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They work in a highly privileged environment because they need low-level access to hardware operations to function. How device drivers functionĭevice drivers operate inside the OS kernel layer. They also handle device responses and messages for delivery to the computer. Device drivers define messages and mechanisms through which the computer’s operating system and applications can access the device or make requests for the device. They handle requests made by the kernel concerning a particular type of device. They offer the interrupt processing essential for any time-dependent asynchronous hardware interface.Ī device driver’s primary objective is to allow computers and network hardware components to interface and interact with specific devices.
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They are hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific (OS). The hardware is linked to a computer bus/communication subsystem via which device drivers interact with the device. A device driver is a software program without a user interface (UI) that manages hardware components or peripherals attached to a computer and enables them to function with the computer smoothly.Ī device driver is a specialized software that operates a particular computer-connected device-offering a software interface to the hardware allows operating systems and other computer applications to access hardware functionalities.
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