Windows 10 and New Driver Model?

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hey all,

I was hoping someone might be able to clear up some conflicting information I keep hearing about Windows 10 and drivers.


I hear:

1.) That Windows 10 has a new driver model that requires a rewrite of drivers for them to work; and

2.) That if your devices work properly in Windows 7 or 8.1, those same drivers will probably still work in Windows 10.

So, which is it? It can't possibly be both can it?

My reason is, I am planning on reinstalling a Brocade BR-1020 10gbit server NIC in my workstation, and I am trying to figure out if I can make it work, and if so how.

They have never supported drivers for client operating systems, but their Windows Server 2008 drivers worked fine in Windows 7, and their Windows Server 2012 drivers worked for me in Windows 8.1

My choice of Windows drivers is as follows:

- Windows Server 2008 32bit
- Windows Server 2008 64bit
- Windows Server 2008 R2 64bit
- Windows Server 2012 x64
- Windows Server 2012 R2 x64

Is it likely that any of these will work in a 64bit Windows 10 Pro install, and if so, do I need to do anything special (compatibility mode, or anything like that) to get them to work?

Much obliged,
Matt

 

[zorobabel]

Try the Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 driver. YMMV
I made a Vista driver to mostly work with w10.

 

[Stoly]

For the most part, the majority of drivers that work with windows 7 will work with windows 10

Only video cards are affected with the new display model. At worst they will use the basic display driver which means no video acceleration.

 

[Demon10000]

If this were trued:

1.) That Windows 10 has a new driver model that requires a rewrite of drivers for them to work; and

There would be much lower adoption rates and people would be screaming vista all over again. There may have been some enhancements to the driver model, but all drivers didn't need a rewrite for them to work. Not saying that all work, but a busted driver seems to be more the exception than the rule with Win10...

 

[bigdogchris]

I expect Vista and up drivers will work with 10. I used Vista audio drivers on 10 and it worked fine. The only older driver I would expect issues with is video drivers. Of course YMMV.