Test your hardware and drivers

Get started here with the testing you need to create high-quality drivers and hardware.

Test your driver (compile time)

After you develop a Windows driver and have code that compiles, use code analysis and verification tools to find errors in your code that could be missed by the compiler and conventional testing.

Test your driver (runtime)

You can test your driver package using the integrated driver test and deployment framework in Visual Studio. Use the HCK test suites, Device Fundamental tests and Driver Verifier to test your driver and hardware.

1. Set up your debugging environment.
2. Use all the general runtime checks, including the checked build of Windows, Driver Verifier, pool tagging, kernel logging, and event tracing:
• Test your driver on each target operating system.
• Test your driver on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.
• Test and improve your driver until it runs cleanly in this environment
3. Test your driver package by using specific tools, such as the WDF Verifier for Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) drivers. See Driver Development Tools.
4. In addition to Microsoft-supplied tests, run your own tests that are specific to your driver.
5. Disable any compile-time modifications and rerun the driver in your debugging environment.
6. Run your driver on each target system, with a retail build and no debugging enabled, and verify that it works correctly.
7. Run the Windows Hardware Certification tests, even if you do not plan to qualify your device for a Hardware Certification.

For additional driver testing guidance, see Developing, testing, and deploying drivers, Tips for testing drivers during development, andTools for Testing Drivers.

Test your hardware

Even though your device will undergo some testing when you test your driver, you should also test specific features of your hardware. You can use theWindows Device Testing Framework (WDTF) to create, manage, reuse, and extend device-centric, scenario-based automated tests.