Rebootless display driver upgrades

• US 8,302,089 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2011
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Andrews, Marcus J., McMullen, Max A., Nene, Sameer A., Barakat, Youssef M., Chitre, Ameet A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kendall, Chuck
• Application Number:
  US13/224,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20110321027A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

Systems and methods for rebootless updating of a IHV display driver are disclosed. According to such a method, first, the operating system stops the driver from running Second, the system switches over to an interim or temporary display driver, which be a default driver provided with the operating system. Third, the new hardware-specific driver is started. Thus, a hardware-specific display driver may be updated without rebooting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

loading an upgraded display driver on to a host computing system;

halting execution of a current display driver without releasing all resources allocated to the current display driver;

starting an interim display driver located in the host computing system, the interim display driver using at least some of the resources that were not released when the current display driver was halted; and

starting the upgraded display driver without having rebooted the host computing system since the time of loading the upgraded display driver on to the host computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution of the current display driver is halted in response to an upgrade request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein loading the upgraded display driver on to the host computing system comprises copying files associated with the upgraded display driver into a memory on the host computing system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the execution of the current display driver comprises sending a notification to release a dependency on video display driver software.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the execution of the current display driver comprises sending a notification to release a dependency on video display driver software.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interim display driver is a default driver provided with an operating system running on the host computing system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, after the current display driver is halted, sufficient resources remain allocated to enable the default driver to run in the interim before starting the upgraded display driver.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the execution of the current display driver comprises pausing a video display client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the execution of the current display driver comprises informing the current display driver to clean up its state.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein starting the upgraded display driver comprises sending a notification to commence routines to add and start a new device to initiate using the upgraded display driver.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein starting the upgraded display driver comprises stopping the interim display driver.

12. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a rebootless method for transitioning to a second display driver on a host computing system, the method comprising:

loading the second display driver on to the host computing system;

stopping a first display driver that is currently running on the host computing system;

receiving a call from an application to perform a graphics operation associated with the first display driver;

informing the application that the first display driver is unavailable and directing the application to release any resources that the application had allocated for use with the first display driver;

starting an interim display driver located in the host computing system, the interim display driver using at least some of the resources that were not released when the current display driver was halted; and

starting the second display driver on the host computing system without rebooting the host computing system since the time of loading the second display driver on to the host computing system; and

executing the call from the application by using the second display driver.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the call from the application is received after the first display driver is stopped.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein executing the call from the application using the second display driver comprises a spoofing procedure.

15. A system comprising:

an upgraded display driver;

a first display driver;

an interim display driver; and

a processor configured to;

stop the first display driver running on a host computing system;

start the interim display driver; and

upon receiving a request from an application, running the first display driver, stopping the interim display driver, and starting the upgraded display driver without rebooting the host computing system, wherein starting the upgraded display driver comprises sending a notification to commence routines to add and start a new device to initiate using the upgraded display driver.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the interim display driver is a default driver provided with an operating system running on the host computing system.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein, stopping the first display driver comprises retaining sufficient resources to enable the interim display driver to run.