                   Microsoft(R) Debugging Tools for Windows(R)
                            Version 6.9 Release Notes
                                 April 2008

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Contents

    Overview
    What's New
    Known Issues
    Programs
    Debugger Extensions
    Software Development Samples
    Documentation
    Redistributables
    More Information
    Feedback

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Overview

Debugging Tools for Windows contains tools to analyze and debug Windows,
Windows drivers, and applications.   It can analyze memory dump files or
perform live debugging.

The kernel debugger is KD.exe.  It can be installed and run on all
the platforms listed below. It can debug all the platforms listed below.

The user-mode debugger is CDB.exe.  It can be installed and used on all the
platforms listed below.

WinDbg.exe is the GUI version of the debugger.  It supports both user-mode
and kernel-mode debugging.  It can be installed and run on all the platforms
listed below. It can debug all the platforms listed below.

Supported platforms:

Windows 2000 (x86)
Windows XP (All CPU architectures)
Windows Server 2003 (All CPU architectures)
Windows Vista (All CPU architectures)
Windows 2008 Server (All CPU architectures)

Please be aware that while you may run the 32-bit version of the debugging 
tools on an 64-bit installation, the inverse is not supported.

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What's New

This release of Debugging Tools for Windows contains many bug fixes and new
enhancements. The debuggers are stable and more reliable than previous 
releases and we recommend that you upgrade to this version.

Here's a list of the key changes in WinDbg 6.9:

    * Fix kd to function properly when debugging 256 processor machine.
    * Fix windbg window dragging performance problems when running under AERO 
      on Vista.
    * Alert the user when a debug transport is already opened by another 
      instance of the debugger.
    * Only attempt driver install after opening the transport fails with file 
      not found.
    * Add /LARGEADDRESSAWARE to debugger executables (cdb/kd/ntsd/windbg).
    * Update vmdemux tool
    * Fix pdbcopy.exe tool
    * "dt" would display enumerant symbolic names for enumeration-typed bit-
      field members.
    * Make "dt" member field match case-insensitive.
    * Support wildcard module name in "dt" command. For example, "dt 
      adv!*RegQuery*".
    * "dt/dv" would output more information indicating that this is an empty 
      string (the default display "") or this is memory read failure (new output 
      "--- memory read error at address ...").
    * "sx? ud" commands can now use an image name (for example, ntdll.dll) as 
      well as a module name (ntdll).
    * Fix ".dbgdbg" command failure when debugger is installed in a directory 
      that contains spaces (for example, "c:\Program Files\Debuggers").
    * Fix "z" command loop counter reset problem.
    * Debugger extension would be loaded using LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH 
      so that dependent binaries could be loaded from the same directory where 
      loaded extension resides (and the directory is not part of search path).
    * "!defwrites" (in kdexts.dll) will not query nt!MmThrottleTop and 
      nt!MmThrottleBottom values in Windows Vista.
    * Fix for "!sysinfo cpuinfo".
    * Fix for "!sysinfo gbl" infinite loop problem.
    * Fix for DisplayFlags() has output string buffer overrun when using 
      "!handle" (in ntsdexts.dll).
    * Fix for "!gflags" command.
    * Fix so that "fltkd" and "boot" debugger extensions run on pre-Win7 OS.
    * Fix Symstore/SymChk improved detection for resource-only binaries
    * Continued on-going improvements to !analyze


    Additional details on some of these features can be found in the debugger
    documentation (debugger.chm).  To open this documentation, use 
    Start --> Debugging Tools for Windows --> Debugging Help.


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Known Issues

    * Docked window frames do not paint properly when running as an elevated 
      user while the Aero theme is active on Vista.

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Programs

This distribution includes the following debuggers:

    KD        - Command-line kernel debugger
    NTSD      - Command-line user-mode debugger
    CDB       - Command-line user-mode debugger (variant of NTSD)
    WinDbg    - GUI kernel debugger

I386KD is also provided in the package to support backwards compatibility. 
It has the same code-base as KD.

There are several debugger-related tools included with the package.  They
are identified as a subcategory under Tools in the custom menu during 
install. This subcategory is called "Helpful Tools" and it is installed by
default.

The Helpful Tools option is installed by default and includes these
debugger-related tools:

    AgeStore     - Removes old or unwanted files from the downstream store 
                   used by a symbol server or source server
    DBH          - DbgHelp shell
    GFlags       - Global Flags Editor
    Breakin      - Utility to force a breakin in another process being 
                   debugged
    Remote       - Remote Command Line
    Kill         - Task Killing Utility
    List         - File List Utility
    LogViewer    - Display API logs created with the .logext extension from
                   the debugger
    RTList       - Remote Task List Viewer
    SymChk       - utility to check validity of symbol files, or download 
                   symbols from a symbol server prior to a debugging session
    SymProxy     - ISAPI filter acting as an HTTP proxy for one or more
                   symbol servers
    SymStore     - Creates a symbol server for automatic symbol lookup
    ConvertStore - Modifies Symbol Server stores
    TList        - Task List Viewer
    UMDH         - Heap Analysis Tool
    PdbCopy      - Symbol file stripper

The following tools have been incorporated into KD.exe and WinDbg.exe.  They
are also provided with Helpful Tools as small stubs that point you to use the 
debugger.

    DumpChk      - Dump Checking Utility
    DumpExam     - Dump Examining Utility

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Debugger Extensions

Debugger Extensions are DLLs that WinDbg, CDB, NTSD, and KD can use to 
provide additional debugger commands.

The extensions that work for all versions of Windows reside in the "winext"
subdirectory, and include:

    uext.dll
    kext.dll
    ext.dll
    logexts.dll


The newest version-specific debugger extensions (which work on Windows XP,
Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows 2008 Server) reside
in the "winxp" subdirectory, and include:

    exts.dll
    kdexts.dll

The debugger extension DLLs for Windows 2000 is operating system 
version and debug/retail specific.  However, these extensions should 
properly support all service packs based on that build.  
Multiple versions of each DLL are included, to provide the necessary 
files for each variant. All DLLs are provided in both debug and retail 
versions.  The debug and retail versions of these DLLs for Windows 2000 
are installed into four subdirectories,under the target subdirectory:

    w2kchk
    w2kfre
    
The debugger has awareness of these subdirectories, and will not be able
to find them if these subdirectories are renamed or moved.

If a custom extension DLL is to be used, it should be placed in its own
directory.  The user can then set the debugger extension path variable so the
debugger can find the extension.  Debugger extensions can also be loaded in
the debugger using fully qualified path names.

All of the debuggers search for debugger extension DLLs in a series of 
directories.  For a list of these directories and the sequence in which they
are searched, open the documentation, choose the Index tab, type "extension",
and click on "default search order" in the listing under "extension".


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Software Development Samples


Header files, libraries and samples for debugger extensions are provided
in this package.  They are not installed by default.  The "SDK"
component of the package must be selected during the install to get the
samples installed.

Use the Build utility to compile and build these samples.  You must use
the version of the Build utility supplied by the latest version of the
Windows WDK or the Platform SDK.  These kits include several different
build environment windows; it is important that you use the "Windows
Server 2003 Build Environment" or "Windows Vista Build Environment"
windows -- even if you are building samples or extensions for use on a
different version of Windows.

Attempting to build the samples and headers in a "Windows 2000 Build
Environment" will cause compilation errors.  Building them in a "Windows
XP Build Environment" may succeed in some cases, but it is not
recommended.  The "Windows 2003 Server Build Environment" and "Windows
Vista Build Environment" windows are the ones that should be used in all
cases.

The header files and libs in this package should replace any existing
version of the header files or libs that are shipped with the Windows
WDK or the Platform SDK.  If you follow the instructions for using the
Build utility, which appear in the Windows WDK documentation, you can
set your include paths so that this is done automatically.

The samples will not compile if they are located in a directory path 
containing spaces.  If you have installed Debugging Tools for Windows into a
path with spaces, you can work around this limitation by moving or copying the
"sdk" subdirectory to a directory path without spaces.


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Documentation

For documentation on how to use these debuggers and related tools, see the
help file debugger.chm that is included with the tools.  This documentation
has been improved and expanded since the last release.

When Debugging Tools for Windows is installed, a shortcut to this documentation
can be found under Start --> Programs --> Debugging Tools for Windows -->
Debugging Help.

You may also choose to review the most current documentation on MSDN: 
	http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc267445.aspx

Information on how to write debugger extensions is included in this same
documentation file.  If you plan to write debugger extensions, you should
perform a custom install of Debugging Tools for Windows and select all
available features.  This will ensure that you have all the necessary
extension headers, libraries, and samples.

The DbgHelp interface is documented in a separate documentation file
(dbghelp.chm).

A tutorial on kernel debugging, Kernel_Debugging_Tutorial.doc, is also included
in this installation.  This file is helpful if you are familiar with other
debugging tools and want to learn how to use WinDbg for kernel debugging.

You need to have Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater installed in order to use
the documentation properly.

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Redistributables

Please read the license agreement during setup for legal information regarding
redistributable files.  If this is a retail release, the license agreement 
mentions that redist.txt gives a list of the files that are redistributable.  

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More Information

For more information on debugging, see the Debugging Tools for Windows
web page, <http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging>.

We encourage people to get the new debugger off the web "often", as
we do many updates, while keeping compatibility with current, and Beta 
versions of Windows.

Version 6.9 is the last debugger release that will support NT 4.0.

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Feedback

We are interested in your feedback on the tools.  Please mail suggestions or 
bug reports to WinDbgfb@microsoft.com.  This is not a support alias, but your 
feedback will help us to plan future changes for these tools and will make 
them more useful to you in the future.

There is also a newsgroup moderated by Microsoft representatives and made up 
many users of these tools.  It is microsoft.public.windbg.  Posting questions
or comments here will often get you the information you need to be productive
with the debuggers.
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