<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
driver	B-Application
wrapper	I-Application
that	O
enables	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
network	B-Device
device	I-Device
drivers	O
(	O
for	O
devices	O
such	O
as	O
PCI	B-Protocol
cards	I-Protocol
,	O
USB	B-Device
modems	I-Device
,	O
and	O
routers	B-Protocol
)	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
systems	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
works	O
by	O
implementing	O
the	O
Windows	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
and	O
NDIS	B-Application
APIs	B-General_Concept
and	O
dynamically	O
linking	O
Windows	O
network	O
drivers	O
to	O
this	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
it	O
only	O
works	O
on	O
systems	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
instruction	B-General_Concept
set	I-General_Concept
architectures	I-General_Concept
supported	O
by	O
Windows	O
,	O
namely	O
IA-32	B-Device
and	O
x86-64	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Native	O
drivers	O
for	O
some	O
network	O
adapters	O
are	O
not	O
available	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
as	O
some	O
manufacturers	O
maintain	O
proprietary	O
interfaces	O
and	O
do	O
not	O
write	O
cross-platform	O
drivers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
allows	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
Windows	O
drivers	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
available	O
for	O
virtually	O
all	O
modern	O
PC	O
network	O
adapters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
three	O
steps	O
:	O
Creating	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
driver	O
,	O
installing	O
it	O
,	O
and	O
using	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
is	O
composed	O
of	O
two	O
main	O
parts	O
,	O
a	O
command-line	B-Application
tool	I-Application
used	O
at	O
installation	O
time	O
and	O
a	O
Windows	O
subsystem	O
used	O
when	O
an	O
application	O
calls	O
the	O
Wi-Fi	O
subsystem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
outcome	O
of	O
an	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
installation	O
should	O
be	O
some	O
sort	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
driver	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
work	O
with	O
Linux	B-Application
applications	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
action	O
the	O
user	O
does	O
is	O
to	O
"	O
compile	O
"	O
a	O
couple	O
or	O
more	O
of	O
Windows	O
files	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
's	O
version	O
of	O
Windows	O
DDK	O
into	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
Kernel	B-Operating_System
Module	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
done	O
with	O
a	O
tool	O
named	O
"	O
ndiswrapper	B-Application
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
resultant	O
linux	B-Application
driver	O
is	O
then	O
installed	O
(	O
often	O
manually	O
)	O
in	O
the	O
OS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Linux	B-Application
application	O
can	O
then	O
send	O
request	O
to	O
this	O
Linux	B-Application
driver	O
that	O
automatically	O
does	O
the	O
needed	O
adaptations	O
to	O
call	O
its	O
—	O
now	O
—	O
internal	O
Windows	O
driver	O
and	O
DDK	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
achieve	O
this	O
"	O
compilation	O
"	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
requires	O
at	O
least	O
the	O
"	O
.inf	B-Protocol
"	O
and	O
the	O
"	O
.sys	O
"	O
files	O
invariably	O
supplied	O
as	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
Windows	O
driver	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
if	O
the	O
driver	O
is	O
called	O
"	O
mydriver	O
"	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
files	O
mydriver.inf	O
and	O
mydriver.sys	O
and	O
vendorid:productid	O
0000:0000	O
,	O
then	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
installs	O
the	O
driver	O
to	O
/etc/ndiswrapper/mydriver/	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
graphical	O
frontends	O
to	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
Ndisgtk	O
and	O
NdisConfig	O
,	O
which	O
allow	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
to	O
be	O
installed	O
using	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
rather	O
than	O
console	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
enables	O
a	O
Unix-like	O
system	O
to	O
use	O
Windows	O
drivers	O
of	O
type	O
NDIS	B-Application
and	O
WIFI	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
useful	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
where	O
there	O
were	O
no	O
Linux	B-Application
Wi-Fi	O
drivers	O
for	O
common	O
Wi-Fi	O
cards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
NDIS	B-Application
driver	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
kind	O
of	O
overlay	O
for	O
Ethernet	O
device	O
drivers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
USB	O
manager	O
is	O
composed	O
of	O
two	O
parts	O
,	O
first	O
a	O
tiny	O
USBD	O
implementation	O
(	O
USB	O
stack	O
)	O
then	O
a	O
simple	O
Windows	B-Application
Driver	I-Application
Model	I-Application
(	O
WDM	O
)	O
USB	O
driver	O
that	O
is	O
itself	O
composed	O
of	O
two	O
parts	O
:	O
The	O
front	O
part	O
will	O
receive	O
calls	O
from	O
the	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
USB	O
stack	O
(	O
in	O
fact	O
from	O
calls	O
coming	O
from	O
the	O
original	O
Windows	O
driver	O
that	O
were	O
normally	O
intended	O
to	O
go	O
to	O
the	O
Windows	O
USB	O
stack	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
rear	O
part	O
is	O
using	O
Linux	B-Application
USB	O
stack	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ndiswrapper	B-Application
uses	O
Windows	O
INF	B-Protocol
files	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
application	O
calls	O
a	O
device	O
which	O
is	O
registered	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
as	O
an	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
device	O
,	O
the	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
determines	O
which	O
Windows	O
driver	O
is	O
targeted	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
then	O
converts	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
query	O
into	O
Windows	O
parlance	O
,	O
it	O
calls	O
the	O
Windows	O
driver	O
,	O
waits	O
for	O
the	O
result	O
and	O
translates	O
it	O
into	O
Linux	B-Application
parlance	O
then	O
sends	O
the	O
result	O
back	O
to	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
's	O
possible	O
from	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
driver	O
(	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
is	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
driver	O
)	O
to	O
call	O
a	O
Windows	O
driver	O
because	O
they	O
both	O
execute	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
address	O
space	O
(	O
the	O
same	O
as	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
kernel	B-Operating_System
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
the	O
"	O
mini	O
ntoskrnl	O
"	O
must	O
know	O
there	O
are	O
other	O
drivers	O
,	O
it	O
must	O
have	O
registered	O
them	O
in	O
its	O
internal	O
database	O
a	O
priori	O
by	O
reading	O
the	O
Windows	O
"	O
.inf	B-Protocol
"	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
a	O
commercial	O
tool	O
produced	O
by	O
Linuxant	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
which	O
seems	O
to	O
provide	O
the	O
same	O
functionality	O
as	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Independently	O
of	O
but	O
roughly	O
simultaneously	O
with	O
the	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
project	O
,	O
Bill	O
Paul	O
of	O
Wind	O
River	O
Systems	O
developed	O
a	O
similar	O
system	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
Project	O
Evil	O
or	O
The	O
NDISulator	O
,	O
for	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
since	O
been	O
ported	O
to	O
DragonFly	B-Application
BSD	I-Application
and	O
NetBSD	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
relies	O
on	O
the	O
elderly	O
"	O
wireless-extensions	O
"	O
to	O
enable	O
applications	O
to	O
access	O
Wi-Fi	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
NDISwrapper	B-Application
relies	O
on	O
Windows	O
drivers	O
;	O
it	O
only	O
supports	O
i386	O
and	O
x86_64	O
architectures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NDISwrapper	B-Application
does	O
not	O
implement	O
NDIS	B-Application
6	O
(	O
Windows	O
Vista	O
version	O
)	O
yet	O
,	O
limiting	O
drivers	O
to	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
a	O
major	O
problem	O
for	O
the	O
x86	O
architecture	O
because	O
of	O
the	O
popularity	O
of	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
x86-32	B-Device
,	O
many	O
vendors	O
choose	O
to	O
make	O
64-bit	O
driver	O
versions	O
only	O
for	O
Windows	O
Vistawhich	O
means	O
that	O
Linux	B-Application
systems	O
using	O
the	O
x86-64	B-Device
architecture	O
are	O
unable	O
to	O
use	O
such	O
networking	B-Device
devices	I-Device
(	O
they	O
can	O
neither	O
use	O
XP	B-Application
x86-32	B-Device
NDIS5	O
because	O
they	O
are	O
64bits	O
systems	O
nor	O
NDIS6	O
64bit	O
drivers	O
because	O
they	O
ca	O
n't	O
use	O
NDIS6	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
's	O
still	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
64	O
bit	O
drivers	O
which	O
implement	O
NDIS5	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
fewer	O
available	O
drivers	O
for	O
xp64	O
(	O
NDIS5/64	O
bit	O
)	O
than	O
for	O
XP32	O
(	O
NDIS5/32	O
bit	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2006	O
,	O
most	O
Windows	O
drivers	O
are	O
compliant	O
with	O
Windows	B-Application
Driver	I-Application
Foundation	I-Application
(	O
WDF	O
)	O
which	O
NDISWrapper	B-Application
ca	O
n't	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
renders	O
NDISWrapper	B-Application
obsolete	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
only	O
supports	O
the	O
previous	O
WDM	O
driver	O
framework	O
.	O
</s>
