2. Driver Flighting End to End
Mark Paley
Lead Principal Program Manager
Device Platform Team

3. System Quality = Quality of OS + Quality of drivers
You are part of Windows
System Quality = Quality of OS + Quality of drivers
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
User-mode Driver
SCM-based Service
Windows app
Windows desktop application (PC only)
User mode
Kernel mode
ntoskrnl.exe (Kernel)
Memory Management
Interprocess Communication
Process Management
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Windows DDI
I/O Manager
Object Management
Dispatcher (kernel)

4. Windows Pace of Innovation is Increasing
Feature Update
Quality Updates
Feature Updates 2x / yr
Latest innovations, like the Creators Update
Smaller Quality Updates
Quality improvements on a monthly cadence
Includes Security Updates

5. Changes in the OS may uncover bugs
Feature Update
Quality Updates
ntoskrnl.exe (Kernel)
Memory Management
Interprocess Communication
Process Management
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Kernel-mode Driver
Windows DDI
I/O Manager
Object Management
Dispatcher (kernel) ?

6. How can we reduce your costs of keeping drivers on Windows 10 systems healthy and current?
Traditional methods of validating drivers multiple times per year is expensive.
Flighting is part of the answer.

7. Two Axioms for a Healthy Driver
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Two Axioms for a Healthy Driver
No substitute for a well-written driver
Use Code Analysis
Use Static Driver Verifier
Run with Driver Verifier enabled
Validate with the HLK
No substitute for real-world validation
Greater diversity of scenarios and hardware
Connects issues to customer impact
Use flighting for real-world validation
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

8. Important Terms Windows Insiders Ring Flighting Shipping Label
Fans of the Windows 10 OS who want to experience latest offerings from Microsoft in order to guide and shape future releases of the operating system.
Ring
A defined customer experience that guides how drivers are flighted to Windows.
Flighting
The automatic distribution, monitoring and evaluation of a driver to a set of customers in defined rings.
Shipping Label
The concept in DevCenter used to define the destination of a driver and the method of delivery.

9. Two Steps to become an Insider
WinHEC 2015
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Two Steps to become an Insider 1 2
Update each client as needed
Sign up at
Best Practice
Support both Released OS and Upcoming OS
Insider Level OS
Fast or Slow Upcoming
Release Preview Released
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

10. Each Ring has an Intended Experience
WinHEC 2015
Each Ring has an Intended Experience
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Release Preview
Windows Insider Slow
Windows Insider Fast
Microsoft Rings
Large external audiences running on released OS
Validate product quality driver updates
Casual Insiders – may require workarounds
Intended to predict in-market population
You should have a backup
Reasonably predicts the experience in SLOW ring
Earliest validation to catch issues prior to releasing externally
Not available to Insiders
Rings enable the broadest set of customers to engage at their own risk level
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

11. Hardware Dev Center Launched in Nov ‘16
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Hardware Dev Center Launched in Nov ‘16
ONE developer home for all Microsoft partners
Significant performance & predictability improvements
Driver Promotions (aka flighting) “Round 1” opened up high volume partners
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

12. On a typical week
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
>50 fights evaluated 2.5M insiders testing 7.5M installs 50M customers automatically update from 186M installs
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

13. Two primary flighting scenarios
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Two primary flighting scenarios
In-Market
In-market population
Servicing
Fixing a bug for a released driver
Adding new functionality for existing customers
Insider population
Co-Development
Working on new features only available on the upcoming release of the OS
Insiders
Scenario dictates final driver destination
By Invitation only
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

14. Promoting a Driver Submitting and promotion experience
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Promoting a Driver
Submitting and promotion experience
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

15. You’ve uploaded a new driver…
Create a new Shipping Label
Shipping Labels
Define the destination of a driver and the method of delivery

16. Start by filling in the basics…

17. Flights happen when you Promote a driver
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Flights happen when you Promote a driver
Select one or more Driver promotion options
aka DU or Dynamic Update
aka Critical Update
Terms DU and Critical Update removed from UX to simplify scenario intent over the long term
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

18. Promotions require a few more details

19. Check the appropriate boxes
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Check the appropriate boxes
Your answers improve evaluation efficiency
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

20. Select the Destination

21. Choose Windows 10 S if Appropriate
Windows 10 S Drivers
Declarative
Componentized
Hardware Support Application compliant
See the talks on Universal Drivers to learn more about these concepts of D/C/H/U
(U = Universal API)

22. Almost Done…. Typically left blank For Distribution CHID Targeting.
See Naomi’s talk for more details on this!
Pushing this button initiates publishing (could take minutes to hours depending on complexity)

23. Publishing Initiates Flighting Process
Flighting occurs for Automatically distributed drivers
a.k.a. “Critical” or “DU” drivers
Represented by “Microsoft Approval” Status

24. Meanwhile at Microsoft….

25. Your Driver shows up as “New Request”

26. Mission Control Sequences your Flight
WinHEC 2016
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Mission Control Sequences your Flight
Flight Launch Approval 1
Flight Sequenced through Rings 2
Upcoming OS
Flight Completion Approval 3
In-Market OS
Microsoft
Windows Insiders
Fast
Slow
Release Preview
Telemetry is captured on In-Market and Upcoming OS
In-Market
© 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

27. Flight Approval is a “2-key” system
Systemic
HWID authorized
CHIDS are valid
No Policy issues
Driver Shiproom / Operations
Device Class Specific
Known OS Issues?
Quality Concerns?
Device Teams

28. Release to In-Market is also “2-key” system
After sufficient number of distributions, release decision is made
Systemic
Does it Install?
Does it load?
No crashes?
Driver Shiproom / Operations
Device Class Specific
Does it function as expected?
Device Teams

29. Microsoft Driver Flighting Report
WinHEC 2015
5/27/2018 9:33 PM
Microsoft Driver Flighting Report
Systemic Telemetry and population provided in the report
Breakdown of failure codes provided
More telemetry will be added over time
© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

30. E2E Driver Flighting Flow
14 day SLA
Submit for launch
Publish to insider
Monitor telemetry/make decision
Driver live to insiders
Decision delivered back to driver partner
Driver Submitted by driver partner
Driver launched by driver Shiproom

31. 96% of Flights are evaluated within 14 days
There are more improvements coming to converge to 100%

32. Interested?

33. Driver Flighting is opening up for “Round 2”
Incrementally adding partners
Primary scenario is servicing
Stay open until we reach capacity
Flighting re-opens when our automation allows for increased scale
Round 2 ETA is July 6th

34. 2 Steps to Enable Driver Promotions
Submit an Incident on Dev Center
Request access for flighting on the web form
Tell us your:
estimated devices in-market
estimated monthly promotions
May take up to 5 business days
Configure Users for Promotion on Dev Center
Company administrator should go to Settings and select “Manage Users”
Makes sure users have proper Roles checked

35. Call to Action! Use the development tools to write great drivers
Code Analysis, Driver Verifier, Static Driver Verifier, HLK
Join the Insider Program
insider.windows.com
Use flighting to automatically distribute driver
Submit an incident within Hardware Dev Center to sign up

36. 5/27/2018 9:33 PM
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.