Windows Driver Kit (WDK)

The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio and Debugging Tools for Windows. This integrated environment gives you the tools you need to develop, build, package, deploy, test, and debug drivers. You can run many basic certification tests in the integrated environment. The WDK includes templates for several technologies and driver models, including Windows Driver Frameworks (WDF), Universal Serial Bus (USB), print, networking, and file system filters.

How to get Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 8.1

Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 8.1 is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. First install Visual Studio 2013, and then install WDK 8.1. You can get the integrated environment here.

Note Debugging Tools for Windows is included in WDK 8.1, so you don't need to download it separately.

Run-time requirements for WDK 8.1

You can use WDK 8.1 to develop drivers that run on the these operating systems:

Windows 8.1	Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 8	Windows Server 2012
Windows 7	Windows Server 2008 R2

You can run WDK 8.1, integrated with Visual Studio 2013, on these operating systems:

Windows 8.1	Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 8	Windows Server 2012
Windows 7	Windows Server 2008 R2

How to get Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 8

We provide Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 8 to give you time to migrate to WDK 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013. Microsoft does not support WDK 8 and will make no further updates to WDK 8. We recommend that you use the latest versions of the WDK and Visual Studio to build drivers for Windows.

WDK 8 is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012. First install Visual Studio 2012, and then install WDK 8. You can get the integrated environment here.

Note Debugging Tools for Windows is included in WDK 8, so you don't need to download it separately.

Run-time requirements for WDK 8

You can use WDK 8 to develop drivers that run on the these operating systems:

Windows 8	Windows Server 2012
Windows 7	Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Vista	Windows Server 2008

You can run WDK 8, integrated with Visual Studio 2012, on these operating systems:

Windows 8	Windows Server 2012
Windows 7	Windows Server 2008 R2

How to get WDK 7.1.0

If you need to build a driver that runs on Windows XP, get WDK 7.1.0.