MetadataKey element

2025-06-30

Important

Device metadata is deprecated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. For information about the replacement for this functionality, see Driver Package Container Metadata.

The MetadataKey element specifies the attributes of the device metadata package. These include the following:

The identifier for each hardware function supported by the device.
The language-specific locale for the text strings within the package.

Usage

<MetadataKey>
  child elements
</MetadataKey>

Attributes

There are no attributes.

Child elements

Element	Description
HardwareIDList	The HardwareIDList element specifies one or more hardware identification strings for the device.
LastModifiedDate	The LastModifiedDate element specifies the time stamp on which the device metadata package was last changed.
Locale	The Locale element specifies the localized version of the device metadata package.
ModelIDList	The ModelIDList element specifies the GUID of each device type or model that is specified within the device metadata package.
MultipleLocale	The MultipleLocale element specifies whether the device metadata package supports multiple locales.

Child element sequence

(
  HardwareIDList, 
  ModelIDList, 
  Locale, 
  LastModifiedDate, 
  MultipleLocale
)

Parent elements

Element	Description
PackageInfo	The PackageInfo element is the parent element of the PackageInfo XML schema. The child elements of the PackageInfo element specify the attributes of the device metadata package.

XSD

<xs:element name="MetadataKey" type="tns:MetadataKeyType" />

<xs:complexType name="MetadataKeyType">
  <xs:sequence>
    <xs:choice maxOccurs="2">
      <xs:element name="HardwareIDList" type="tns:HardwareIDListType" />
      <xs:element name="ModelIDList" type="tns:ModelIDListType" />
    </xs:choice>
    <xs:element name="Locale" type="tns:LocaleType" />
    <xs:element name="LastModifiedDate" type="xs:dateTime" />
    <xs:element ref="v2:MultipleLocale" minOccurs="0" />
  </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

The following is the PackageInfov2 XML schema metadata:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xs:schema targetNamespace="https://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2010/08/DeviceMetadata/PackageInfov2" xmlns:tns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2010/08/DeviceMetadata/PackageInfov2"  xmlns:xs="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" elementFormDefault="qualified" blockDefault="#all">

<xs:element name="MultipleLocale" type ="xs:boolean" />

</xs:schema>

Remarks

The child elements of the MetadataKey element specify the metadata that the operating system uses to do the following:

Search the device metadata store for a device metadata package based on either a device's ModelID or HardwareID value. If more than one metadata packages match the device's Model or Hardware ID, the operating system also compares the Locale value within the metadata package to the current language setting on the user's computer.
Update the device metadata store with the device metadata package if a package has a more recent LastModifiedDate value than an existing package within the device metadata store.

The MetadataKey element must contain:

One instance of the Locale and LastModifiedDate elements.
One instance of either the HardwareIDList or ModelIDList elements. The MetadataKey element can contain one instance of both elements.

The MetadataKey element is required.

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