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windows-vista-and-later-display-driver-model-architecture.md

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title description keywords ms.date
WDDM Architecture
Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) Architecture
display driver model WDK Windows Vista , architecture
Windows Vista display driver model WDK , architecture
architecture WDK display
user-mode display drivers WDK Windows Vista , architecture
06/26/2024

WDDM Architecture

The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) has user-mode and kernel-mode components. The following figure shows the various components of the WDDM architecture.

:::image type="content" source="images/wddm-architecture.png" alt-text="Diagram showing the WDDM architecture with user-mode and kernel-mode components.":::

System-supplied modules are shown in the figure as white boxes. Gray boxes represent modules that IHVs can provide. Applications can be developed by partners or system-supplied.

System-supplied modules

The following system-supplied modules are part of the WDDM architecture:

  • The Direct3D runtime is a user-mode component that provides an application API for applications. It provides various services and is responsible for managing the interaction between an application, the user-mode graphics driver (UMD), and gdi32.dll.

  • gdi32.dll is a user-mode library that a D3D runtime or a partner graphics client links against. A runtime or client calls a gdi32 "thunk" that routes the call to the appropriate kernel-mode function in the DirectX kernel subsystem (Dxgkrnl).

  • Dxgkrnl.sys is the core component of the Windows operating system's kernel-mode graphics subsystem. It facilitates communication between the operating system, the UMD, and the kernel-mode display miniport driver (KMD). Dxgkrnl includes subcomponents such as the display port driver, the memory manager (VidMm), and the scheduler (VidSch).

  • Win32 GDI and Win32k.sys are legacy components that are still used by some applications.

Third party-supplied modules

  • The UMD is a dynamic-link library (DLL) that the Direct3D runtime loads.

  • The KMD communicates with Dxgkrnl and the graphics hardware.

A graphics hardware vendor must supply both a UMD and KMD.

  • A third-party partner graphics client is a user-mode component that has its own API and framework. It calls gdi32 thunks to communicate with the kernel-mode graphics subsystem. The clients that Microsoft is aware of are listed in D3DKMT_CLIENTHINT.