USB idproduct and idvendor - usb

I am very new to USB interfacing and i am trying to build an application for WINCE 2013 device. In my device, one vendor's (let suppose 'X') VID and PID are using for USB mass storage device class.
Now, i have specific use case where communication should be built on USB rndis class. For this communication purpose we are using microsoft generic rndis driver as is (not a custom one). So, can i use the X's VID and PID(which i am using for MASS STORAGE class now) for the Rndis class too or need to purchase a new one again. I know that i can use any VID and PID during development stage but i need VID and PID's for production devices.
Or can i go with Microsoft VID, PID and compatible id's compatible for Microsoft generic rndis driver by changing only the Serial Number for devices?
Please suggest and thanks in advance! :-)
(Do let me know if the query is too vague to understand.)

It's difficult to find a definitive answer, but maybe we'll be able to extrapolate from this post by a Microsoft MVP (emphasis mine):
(...) you don't have to change MS's VID/PID anymore if
you use USB RNDIS to use ActiveSync.
Here's the official response from
Microsoft on this subject (as asked by a fellow MVP regarding a client
who had the same issue):
Question: Should they use the Microsoft PIDVID or create their own? If
they create their own, it means modifying the current .inf file and
therefore this means the driver will be unsigned and therefore may not
be able to be installed. In the past the Microsoft PIDVID gave warnings
to not use this. Now in 6.0 the warnings do not appear.
Answer: The answer is exactly the same as for Windows Mobile: For
ActiveSync usage, YES, you can use Microsoft's VID & PID for your scenario.
This is a change from documentation which says to get your own PID &
VID. Contrary to what the sample Registry file says, the OEM should ship
the device using Microsoft's VID & PID for USB-Serial ActiveSync client.
The latest OEM documentation confirms this (...)
Now, since you don't specifically mention ActiveSync, my understanding is that the above probably does not apply to your use case, which again means you will have to use your own VID and PID.
If you already own a VID/PID combination, I don't see any (legal) issues using this with RNDIS as well. It is the same device after all, and the USB host would load one of two different class (not custom) drivers to communicate with the device.
However, if you use your own VID/PID you will have to either
supply a signed INF file to end-users that contains your custom VID/PID, or
instruct users to manually select the RNDIS driver when your device is connected to the PC for the first time

Related

Why are my 2 USB connected devices, using separate FTDI Virtual COM Ports (COM3 and COM2), communicating over the same COM port?

I have a program written in Visual Basic (.NET Framework 3.0) that communicates with a power supply via a D2XX driver (over COM3) and a pump via a VCP driver (over COM2). Currently, if both USB devices are plugged in when I start the program, it tries to communicate with the pump, (COM2) when trying to communicate with the power supply (COM3). I found a temporary solution to this issue by only have the power supply connected when starting the program. Then I initialize communication with the power supply, and afterwards plug in the pump; this allows the program to communicate with both separately for the rest of the time running the program. But this process is tedious and I am hoping there is an alternative solution where I can keep both units connected via USB and the computer communicates separately. What is confusing is that this communication issue was not always the case, a week ago it worked without having to disconnect the pump (all drivers are updated, and on the device manager they are listed as their respective COM ports as well) ; I am struggling to find some correlation between what is the underlying issue.
I tried to delete other hidden additional COM ports. I made sure all drivers were updated. When the pump is communicating via the same port as the power supply, and then I try to communicate with the pump, I receive this error:
System.UnauthorizedAccessException
HResult=0x80070005
Message=Access to the port 'COM2' is denied.
Source=<Cannot evaluate the exception source>
StackTrace:
<Cannot evaluate the exception stack trace>
But again, If I start the program with only the power supply plugged in and initialize communication with the power supply, and THEN plug in the pump, this issue is evaded. I hope someone can give some sort of direction at all troubleshooting this issue because I am completely stumped. Thank you!
Most likely your program implicitly relied on the correct enumeration order. If you use devices with an FTDI product with internal flash or with dedicated eeprom, you may be lucky: Many can configured via FT_PROG to be visible only for D2XX and not as VCP. This way you can avoid the problem. Alternatively, you can try to modify your program so that it accesses D2XX first. Make sure to filter out the correct device using device informations. E.g. the serial number or the VID:PID if the device manufacturer has made the effort to aquire its own IDs. Check 3.4 FT_GetDeviceInfoList of D2XX Programmer's Guide for details.

How to create a USB STACK using win32 programming

I am doing my Project using win 32 programming.I am just learning about win32 programming and able to create an UI.I want to communicate with an USB Device with that UI.SO,How can i go for that?Is there any predefined functions will be there are we need to create the function for communicating with the OS and get the devices List and got the details about them.
My purpose is to ,
1.Creating an UI that tells about the Basic information about the device.
2.For that first of all i want to communicate with the OS for device attachment and find the drivers for that.That will lead to get the information about the device and communicate with the device using that UI.
So,can anyone help me about this?How can i achieve this or approach this?
Assuming your USB Device enumerates as a vendor specific device and not a class that has a preloaded driver WinUSB would be perfect for your case. If it is loading a class driver such as HID or some other class you will need to look up the API for that type of device on MSDN.

USB device design for an embedded MCU

I am working on a product with an LPC1788 which needs the following USB features:
Firmware download (from host PC to device, not through a USB
key).
File upload (from device to host).
Ideally we'd also be able to get some information from the device like serial number etc.
The device should only work with a custom Windows application, so simply using a mass-storage device as-is will not do. There are quite a lot of data to upload (200MB +), so using USB bulk transfers seem necessary to me.
What is the best way to approach this? I imagine I would need to create some sort of USB composite device(?). However, I was hoping to use nxpUSBlib or winUSB so I don't have to go through the Windows driver validation process.... What are my options? Perhaps there some way to make the mass-storage device invisible for Windows?
Thanks!
Dirk
I think you'll definitely want to go with a vendor specific bulk device and you can easily use WinUSB for all of this. This should be sufficient for everything you've specified here.
For your firmware loader I'd recommend looking at the DFU (device firmware update) specification. You'll probably want make some command for your device that when sent will cause it to reenumerate itself in to DFU mode for update (rather than a composite device that is always exposed - this restricts the issue of the other interface being in use while you're flashing your device). Then you can flash it and reset it so it will reenumerate as your vendor specific bulk device again.
I wouldn't recommend mucking with mass storage, from your requirements it will be better to implement your own protocol and create some application or DLL that consumes the WinUSB API to communicate with your device, including the firmware update.

Access SmartCards from Windows 8 Store App (WinRT)

In a Windows 8 Store App I would like to read Data from a SmartCard. After installing the SmartCard reader (USB Device) I can read its device path and connection state via the Windows.Devices.Enumeration namespace. Even the device interface id is retrievable (50dd5230-ba8a-11d1-bf5d-0000f805f530) and I put this as a required capability in the App's manifest file.
For the interaction with the device I use a C++ Component calling the CreateDeviceAccessInstance Method. But this call always results in an ACCESS_DENIED exception.
Further research taught me, that interacting with a custom hardware device (everything that is not a printer, microphone, mouse, ...) would need several adjustments in the device driver published to the windows 8 driver store.
I'd be glad to do so, but I am no IHV and would like to use the generic driver and the generic interface.
Could anyone give me a hint how to proceed from here and use the generic interface for USB SmartCard devices?
This is not a real answer, but I have the same problem and I have spent quite some time looking for the hard-to-find bits of information on this subject around the internet, and I'd like to share my results.
Windows 8.1 has some specific APIs for (virtual) SmartCards (API reference, sample), but it seems like they can only be used for authentication and there is no way to send APDU commands to a card at the moment (see this comment by Himanshu Soni). I guess one could use the new USB APIs to talk to the reader directly, but then you'd have to implement the whole protocol yourself.

Multiple Driver for USB Device

Is it possible for a USB device to support multiple drivers? I'd like to support my own proprietary driver but also CCID as a second choice. When the device is plugged in, the user can select which one to use. The driver to use is determined by what the USB descriptor says, right? If that is so, is it possible to indicate that both drivers are supported? Is the idea of supporting two drivers doable?
On Windows, having two supported drivers is possible. In fact, to get Microsoft Logo certification, it is mandatory that the USB device supports this functionality. (Requirement CONNECT-0123)
However, the UI behavior you describe isn't offered by Microsoft. Driver selection is automatic.
Your USB device can indicate it supports two interfaces. In that case, both drivers will be loaded.
I am sure that it is not possible for a device to use two drivers at the same time but what is possible is for the device to enumerate using one class type and driver and then during its operation, in response to some command over the USB or operation of the device, for it to disconnect and then re-enumerate as a different type of device using the second driver.
As an example the product that I am developing normally enumerates as a CDC (serial port emulation) but when I need to reload the code it re-enumerates as a different device type and uses the chip vendor supplied driver to perform the code download. Once this completes then the device re-enumerates itself again as a CDC device type and resumes its serial port emulation.
You therefore need to provide a "command" interface that will trigger the transition between the two operating modes and to ensure that the two drivers are installed on the host computer ready for the mode switch.