Debugging Tools for Windows is a set of extensible tools for debugging device drivers for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. Debugging Tools for Windows supports debugging of:
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Applications, services, drivers, and the Windows kernel.
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Native 32-bit x86, native Intel Itanium, and native x64 platforms.
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Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
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User-mode programs and kernel-mode programs.
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Live targets and dump files.
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Local and remote targets.
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In addition to Debugging Tools for Windows, effective debugging also requires:
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Special debugging routines, macros, and global variables in the Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK). You can use these routines in your driver code to send messages to a debugger and set breakpoints to aid in debugging.
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Access to Windows symbol files. If you have access to the Internet while debugging, you can set your debugger's symbol path to point to the Windows symbol server. If you do not have access to the Internet while debugging, you can download symbols in advance from the Microsoft website.
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Debugging Tools for Windows includes WinDbg, a powerful debugger with a graphical interface and a console interface, as well as the console-based debuggers NTSD, CDB, and KD.
About WinDbg
WinDbg provides source-level debugging through a graphical user interface and a text-based interface.
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WinDbg uses the Microsoft Visual Studio debug symbol formats for source-level debugging. It can access any public function's names and variables exposed by modules that were compiled with Codeview (.pdb) symbol files.
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WinDbg can view source code, set breakpoints, view variables (including C++ objects), stack traces, and memory. It includes a command window to issue a wide variety of commands not available through the drop-down menus. For kernel-mode debugging, WinDbg typically requires two computers (the host machine and the target machine). It also allows you to remotely debug user-mode code.
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To Prepare for a Debugging Session
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| If you want to debug kernel-mode code, set up a host computer to run the debugger and a target computer to run the code being debugged. Connect the two computers using either an IEEE 1394 cable or a null-modem cable between two serial ports.
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2.
| Download and install the latest version of Debugging Tools for Windows on the host computer. The tools can also be installed from the Windows DDK, the Platform SDK, or the Customer Support Diagnostics CD.
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3.
| Use Windows Symbol Server to access the symbol files from the host computer.
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About the Microsoft Symbol Server
Symbol server technology is built into Debugging Tools for Windows. Microsoft provides access to an Internet symbol server that contains symbol files for the Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 operating systems, as well as other Microsoft products.
The Internet symbol server is populated with a variety of Windows symbols for Microsoft Windows operating systems, including hot fixes, Service Packs, Security Rollup Packages, and retail releases. Symbols are also available on the server for current Betas and Release Candidates for Windows products, plus a variety of other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.
If you have access to the Internet during debugging, you can configure the debugger to download symbols as needed during a debugging session, rather than downloading symbol files separately before a debugging session. The symbols are downloaded to a directory location that you specify and then the debugger loads them from there.
To use the Microsoft Symbol Server
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| Make sure you have installed the latest version of Debugging Tools for Windows.
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| Start a debugging session.
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| Decide where to store the downloaded symbols (the "downstream store"). This can be a local drive or a UNC path.
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| Set the debugger symbol path as follows, substituting your downstream store path for DownstreamStore.
SRV*DownstreamStore*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
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For example, to download symbols to c:\websymbols, you would add the following to your symbol path:
SRV*c:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Note: http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols is not browsable and is intended only for access by the debugger. For more information on setting symbol paths and using symbol servers, see the documentation accompanying Debugging Tools for Windows.
Debugger and Symbols Downloads
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