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Plug and Play Systems

Plug and Play (PnP) allows devices to be automatically recognized and configured with little user intervention. PnP was introduced in Windows 95 and requires support from device hardware, system software, drivers, the system BIOS, and the operating system to work properly. When a PnP device is plugged in, the system software recognizes it, allocates resources, and loads the appropriate driver, enabling the device to function immediately without manual configuration.

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179 views7 pages

Plug and Play Systems

Plug and Play (PnP) allows devices to be automatically recognized and configured with little user intervention. PnP was introduced in Windows 95 and requires support from device hardware, system software, drivers, the system BIOS, and the operating system to work properly. When a PnP device is plugged in, the system software recognizes it, allocates resources, and loads the appropriate driver, enabling the device to function immediately without manual configuration.

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rubinder
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PLUG AND PLAY SYSTEMS

 Plug and Play (PnP) is a capability developed by


Microsoft for its Windows 95 and later operating
systems that gives users the ability to plug a device
into a computer and have the computer recognize
that the device is there.
 The user doesn't have to tell the computer.
 In many earlier computer systems, the user was
required to explicitly tell the operating system when
a new device had been added.
 Microsoft made Plug and Play a selling point for its
Windows operating systems.
 Plug and Play (PnP) is a combination of hardware
and software support that enables a computer
system to recognize and adapt to hardware
configuration changes with little or no intervention
by a user.
 A user can add devices to, and remove devices from,
a computer system without having to do awkward
and confusing manual configuration, and without
having knowledge of intricate computer hardware.
 For example, if you connect a Plug-and-Play mouse
to the USB port on your computer, it will begin to
work within a few seconds of being plugged in. A
non plug-and-play device would require you to go
through several steps of installing drivers and setting
up the device before it would work.
Examples of plug and play devices
 Computer monitor.
 External hard drive.
 Gamepad or joystick.
 Keyboard.
 Mouse.
 USB flash drive.
 Webcam.

PnP requires support from device hardware, system


software, and drivers. This Windows Driver Kit (WDK)
documentation focuses on the system software support
for PnP and how drivers use that support to implement
PnP.
The system software support for PnP, together with PnP
drivers provides the following:
 Automatic and dynamic recognition of installed
hardware
The system software recognizes hardware during
initial system installation, recognizes PnP hardware
changes that occur between system boots, and
responds to run-time hardware events such as
docking or undocking and device insertion or
removal.
 Hardware resource allocation (and reallocation)
The PnP manager determines the hardware
resources requested by each device (for example,
input/output ports [I/O], interrupt requests [IRQs],
direct memory access [DMA] channels, and memory
locations) and assigns hardware resources
appropriately. The PnP manager reconfigures
resource assignments when necessary, such as
when a new device is added to the system that
requires resources already in use.
Drivers for PnP devices do not assign resources;
instead, the requested resources for a device are
identified when the device is enumerated. The PnP
manager retrieves the requirements for each device
during resource allocation. Resources are not
dynamically configurable for legacy devices, so the
PnP manager assigns resources to legacy devices
first.
 Loading of appropriate drivers
The PnP manager determines which drivers are
required to support each device and loads those
drivers.
 A programming interface for drivers to interact with
the PnP system
The interface includes I/O manager routines, Plug
and Play minor IRPs, required standard driver
routines, and information in the registry.
 Mechanisms for drivers and applications to learn of
changes in the hardware environment and take
appropriate actions
Requirements for Plug and Play

Automatically detecting and configuring hardware and


software is not a simple task. To perform this work,
cooperation is required from several hardware and
software areas.
The four "partners" that must be Plug and Play compliant
in order for it to work properly are:
• System Hardware: The hardware on your system,
through the system chipset and system bus controllers,
must be capable of handling PnP devices. For modern
PCIbased systems this is built in, as PCI was designed
with PnP in mind. Most PCI-based systems also support
PnP on their ISA bus, with special circuitry to link the two
together and share resource information. Older PCs with
ISA-only or VL-bus system buses generally do not support
Plug and Play.

• Peripheral Hardware: The devices that you are adding


into the system must themselves be PnP compatible. PnP
is now supported for a wide variety of devices, from
modems and network cards inside the box to printers
and even monitors outside it. These devices must be
PnP-aware so that they are capable of identifying
themselves when requested, and able to accept resource
assignments from the system when they are made.

• The System BIOS: The system BIOS plays a key role in


making Plug and Play work. Routines built into the BIOS
perform the actual work of collecting information about
the different devices and determining what should use
which resources. The BIOS also communicates this
information to the operating system, which uses it to
configure its drivers and other software to make the
devices work correctly. In many cases older PCs that have
an outdated BIOS but otherwise have support for PnP in
hardware (PCI-based Pentiums produced between 1993
and 1995 are the prime candidates) can be made PnP-
compliant through a BIOS upgrade.
• The Operating System: Finally, the operating system
must be designed to work with the BIOS (and thus
indirectly, with the hardware as well). The operating
system sets up any low-level software (such as device
drivers) that are necessary for the device to be used by
applications. It also communicates with the user,
notifying him or her of changes to the configuration, and
allows changes to be made to resource settings if
necessary. Currently, the only mainstream operating
system with full PnP support is Windows 95.

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