In a bid to allow developers to develop, test and deploy drivers for the upcoming version of Windows – Windows 11, Microsoft has released the latest version of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and tools. In addition, it has also made available the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit a.k.a. Windows ADK.
Windows Driver Kit & Windows ADK now available for Windows 11
Previously known as Windows Driver Development Kit, WDK is a software toolset from Microsoft that enables the development of device drivers for the Microsoft Windows platform. However, for running the Windows Driver Kit, you must have Visual Studio installed on your machine.
Starting with Windows 10, version 1709, when you install the WDK, it automatically installs the WDK extensions for Visual Studio. So, after installing the Visual Studio, select the Desktop development with C++ workload. The Windows 10 Software Development Kit (SDK) included in it is displayed instantly in the right-hand Summary pane.
The Windows Assessment and Deployment kit on the other hand features tools developers need to customize Windows images for large-scale deployment. Besides, it’s also used to test the quality and performance of the end-user system, its added components, and the applications running on it.
You can use the Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows to install Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022. While starting from Windows 7, you can use the Windows Driver Kit to develop drivers for the following versions of Windows operating systems –
- Windows 8
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows 8.1
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows 10
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019.
For more information, you can visit Microsoft here and here. Install the WDK and ADK versions based on what works best for your environment.
TIP: Planning for Windows 11 Deployment? This guide will help you get started.
