The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) is a software toolset from Microsoft that enables the development of device drivers for the Microsoft Windows platform. It includes documentation, samples, build environments, and tools for driver developers. A complete toolset for driver development also need the following: a compiler Visual Studio, Windows SDK, and Windows HLK.
Forms of distribution The Windows Driver Kit is available in several forms, depending on development and build requirements: Windows Driver Kit (WDK) – the primary MSI based installation that integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio and includes headers, libraries, documentation, and driver development and testing tools.
Enterprise Windows Driver Kit (EWDK) – a standalone, self-contained environment that includes the build tools, headers, and libraries needed to build Windows drivers without installing Visual Studio. The EWDK is commonly used in automated build systems or in environments that require an isolated toolchain.
WDK NuGet packages – package-based distributions of WDK components that can be consumed through NuGet in Visual Studio. These packages allow developers to reference driver development headers and libraries on a per‑project basis without installing the full WDK. They can also be used in continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) environments to automate driver builds and validation. History Previously, the WDK was known as Device Development Kit (DDK)README.TXT from Windows 3.1 Device Development Kit (DDK) for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x. It supported the development of VxD drivers. Later versions for Windows NT and Windows 98 SE and ME were called Driver Development Kit (DDK) and supported Windows Driver Model (WDM) development. It got its current name when Microsoft released Windows Vista and added the following previously separated tools to the kit: Installable File System Kit (IFS Kit), Driver Test Manager (DTM), though DTM was later renamed and removed from WDK again.
The DDK for Windows 2000 and earlier versions did not include a compiler; instead one had to install Visual C++ separately to compile drivers. From the version for Windows XP the DDK and later the WDK include a command-line compiler to compile drivers. One of the reasons Microsoft gave for including a compiler was that the quality of drivers would improve if they were compiled with the same version of the compiler that was used to compile Windows itself while Visual C++ is targeted to application development and has a different product cycle with more frequent changes. The WDK 8.x and later series goes back to require installing a matched version of Visual Studio separately, but this time the integration is more complete in that you can edit, build and debug the driver from within Visual Studio directly.
DDK versions Version Build number Release date Supported Driver ModelWindows 3.0 DDK VxD Windows 3.1 DDK VxD Windows NT 3.1 DDK NTDM Windows NT 3.5 DDK NTDM Windows NT 3.51 DDK 1025.1 NTDM Windows 95 DDK VxD Windows 95 DDK a VxD Windows 95 DDK b VxD Windows 95 DDK c (MSDN July 1998) VxD Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 3.51) NTDM Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 4.0) 1381.1 NTDM Windows 98 DDK VxD, WDM? Windows 98 SE DDK VxD, WDM? Windows 2000 DDK 2195.1 WDM Windows Me DDK VxD only Windows XP Driver Development Kit (DDK) 2600 WDM Windows XP SP1 Driver Development Kit (DDK) 2600.1106 WDM Windows Server 2003 DDK 3790 WDM Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 DDK 3790.1830 WDM Windows NT DDK, Windows 98 DDK and Windows 2000 DDK are no longer made available by Microsoft because of Java-related settlements made by Microsoft with Sun Microsystems.MSDN: Products Unavailable due to Java-related Settlement
WDK versions Version Build number Release date Develops drivers for Visual Studio integration Notes Windows Driver Kit for Windows Vista 6000 Windows Vista - - Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64) 6001.18000 Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008 - - 6001.18001 - - Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 Release SP1 (x86, x64, i64) 6001.18002 Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008 SP1 - - Windows Driver Kit 7.0.0 7600.16385.0 Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 - - Windows Driver Kit 7.1.0 7600.16385.1 Windows XP SP3 – 7, Windows Server 2003 SP1 – 2008 R2 - Windows Driver Kit Version 7.1.0 Windows Driver Kit 8.0 8.59.25584 Windows 7 – 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 Visual Studio 2012 Downloads before 8/17/2012 had a bug in WDF co-installerWDF co-installer issue Windows Driver Kit 8.1 8.100.26638 Windows 7 – 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2 Visual Studio 2013 - Windows Driver Kit 8.1 Update 8.100.26846 Windows 7 – 8.1 Update, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2 Visual Studio 2013 - Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1507 10.0.26639 July 2015 Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Visual Studio 2015 RTM – Update 3 - Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1511 10.0.10586 November 2015 Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1511 Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 – 3 Windows 10 November Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1607 10.0.14393 August 2016 Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1607 (Excludes Win10 Version 1507 & 1511) Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 Windows 10 Anniversary Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1703 10.0.15063 April 2017 Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 & 1703 only), Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2016 Visual Studio 2017 Ver.15.1 Windows 10 Creators Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1709 10.0.16299 October 2017 Visual Studio 2017 Ver.15.4 Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1803 10.0.17134 April 2018 Windows 10 April 2018 Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1809 10.0.17763 October 2018 Windows 10 October 2018 Update Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1903 10.0.18362.1 April 2019 Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 to 1903), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – 2019 Visual Studio 2019 Ver.16 Windows 10 May 2019 Update Windows Driver Kit 11, Version 25H2 10.0.26100.6584 November 2025 Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 Visual Studio 2022 Ver.17 Windows 11 Nov 2025 Update
See also Windows Driver Frameworks Windows Driver Model Windows Logo Kit
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