Network components are installed by the network class installer. A class installer is a dynamic-link library (DLL) that installs, configures, or removes devices of a particular class in the system. If the network class installer does not provide all the features that a vendor requires, a vendor can customize the installation process by writing a device co-installer. Each network component must have an information (INF) file that the network class installer uses to install the component. A vendor supplies one or more drivers for the device, which typically consists of a driver image (.sys) file and a driver library (.dll) file. A vendor may also supply an optional driver catalog file. A vendor gets a digital signature by submitting its driver package to the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) for testing and signing. WHQL returns the package with a catalog (.cat) file. The vendor must list the catalog file in the INF file for the device. A software component, such as a network protocol, client, or service, can have a notify object. A notify object can display a user interface, notify the component of binding events so that the component can exercise some control over the binding process, and conditionally install or remove software components.A network adapter cannot have a notify object. It can have co-installers. The hw-id (also known as the device, hardware, or component ID) for a network adapter must match the hardware ID supplied by the adapter to the PnP manager. The hw-id for a network software component should consist of a provider name, followed by an underscore, and a manufacturer name or the product name Each DDInstall section in a network INF file must have a Characteristics entry one or more of the following values:
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