A default diagnostics tool included in Windows 7 can incorrectly report DirectX 11 devices as DirectX 10.1, Microsoft has revealed. At fault is the DirectX Diagnostics Tool, the Redmond company explains. The Erroneous reporting of DirectX 11 devices as DirectX 10.1 devices is a problem that also affects Windows Server 2008 R2, the software giant discloses. However, the issue is by no means severe, and in fact easy to fix.

“When you run the DirectX Diagnostics Tool (Dxdiag.exe) on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the diagnostic tool incorrectly reports a DirectX 11 device as a DirectX 10.1 device. This incorrect version information is shown in the DDI field on the Display tab. This problem is only a reporting error. This problem does not affect the DirectX 11 hardware or software functionality of the graphics card,” Microsoft explains.

The Redmond company is already offering a hotfix designed to deal with the problem. The fix can be grabbed from Microsoft Support, but the company stresses that only customers affected by this specific issue should apply the resolve. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 users that are in no way impacted by the problem described here should wait for the first update that will contain the hotfix, which will most probably be Service Pack 1.

With the evolution from Windows Vista to Windows 7, Microsoft also kicked up a notch the graphics technology of the operating system. Vista, with Service Pack 2 integrated, allows users to take advantage of DirectX 10.1, while in Windows 7 DX jumped all the way to version 11. Still, Microsoft has backported DirectX 11 from Windows 7 to Vista, and is currently serving the technology to all Vista SP2 users. Customers should make sure that Automatic Updates are enabled in order to receive the RTM version of the Platform Update for Windows Vista, which contains DirectX 11.