5.13. Windows NDIS - emllNdis

As default EC-Simulator for Windows contains emllNdis.dll to use a native Windows driver for EtherCAT.

The acontis ECAT Protocol Driver is needed to use the NDIS Link Layer and can be installed from Bin/Windows/x64/EcatNdisSetup-x86_64Bit.msi or Bin/Windows/x86/EcatNdisSetup-x86_32Bit.msi respectively depend on the Windows Operating System Type of 64 Bit or 32 Bit.

IPv4 must be installed for the network adapter as the NDIS Link Layer uses the IP address to identify the network adapter.

The parameters to the NDIS Link Layer are setup-specific. The function CreateLinkParmsFromCmdLineNDIS() in EcSelectLinkLayer.cpp demonstrates how to initialize the Link Layer instance.

Public Members

Common link parameters. Signature must be set to EC_LINK_PARMS_SIGNATURE_NDIS

ServiceName of network adapter, see HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkCards in registry (zero terminated)

IP address of network adapter

Disable adapter promiscuous mode

Don’t change target MAC address to FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF

In case of problems while using the Link layer, it is advised to set the windows registry entry DontSetPromiscuousMode of the ECAT NDIS Protocol driver. This option is available since V3.1.3.02 of the driver. This can be done through the following steps:

  • Install ECAT NDIS Protocol driver (V3.1.3.02 or newer version)

  • Open the registry editor

  • Switch to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ecatndis, or just look for Ecatndis in the editor

  • Create a new entry named DontSetPromiscuousMode

  • Change the value of DontSetPromiscuousMode to 1

  • Close the registry editor and restart your computer