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From the Editor
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Last week I joined in our team's annual stress-testing event: WinHEC content scheduling. It's an extremely high-tech activity: put a half-dozen opinionated people in a room with a wall chart, colored sticky notes, caffeine, a couple of laptops, and a wireless connection. Then we negotiate in an unrestrained manner:
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"Are you nuts? You can't put Windows Longhorn Graphics at the same time as PCI Express Trusted Configuration in the System Fundamentals track," said our usually mild-mannered moderator. "In fact, don't put PCI Express topics anywhere near the graphics topics."
"Then move all of Tuesday around," said Planner #1. "Because you can't put the Windows Hardware Error Architecture at the same time as the Server Manageability topics. Isn't it obvious that they're related?"
One thing was true, when we studied our massive wall chart of WinHEC sessions, we found 64-bit Windows everywhere: client and server roadmaps, porting drivers to 64-bit, Terminal Server issues, and driver installation. But then, that's what they say about the future, isn't it? 64-bit is everywhere. And while we were planning WinHEC, the HCT team was getting the HCT 12.1 release ready so you can now test 64-bit systems and drivers for the "Designed for Windows" logo program.
WHDC after Dark. Desperate after a long day of low-tech planning about high-tech topics, the WHDC team turned to some common modes of relaxation in Redmond.
Annie Pearson
for the WHDC team
Driver Tips and News
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Queuing a work item that is already in the work queue can corrupt the queue and cause hard-to-detect problems in your driver. Internally, the system maintains the queued work items in a doubly-linked list. When you call IoQueueWorkItem (or ExQueueWorkItem) to add an item to the queue, the system checks the links. On a checked build, the system asserts if the item is already linked into the list. On a free build, however, the item is added to the list, the function returns a success status, and the list becomes corrupted, which can cause serious and unpredictable problems. Read this tip to find out how to prevent work-item queue corruption in your driver.
The size of the kernel-mode stack varies among different hardware platforms, but it is always a scarce resource that must be used with care. The kernel-mode stack is a limited storage area that is intended primarily for information that is passed from one function to another. Depending on the depth of the call stack, a driver that uses deeply nested or recursive calls or that allocates large data structures on the stack can run out of stack space and crash the system. This tip offers guidelines for understanding and managing your driver's use of the kernel-mode stack.
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Kits, Tools, Services, and Programs
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Microsoft is conducting a survey about the details and issues related to the "Designed for Windows" Logo Program requirements for hardware and drivers. Please give us your feedback. The survey is available through Friday, February 25, 2005. This survey does not ask for any personal information from you. If you have any questions, contact HWLogo@Microsoft.com.
The Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Test (HCT) 12.1 is now available. You can use this new kit to prepare test submissions to qualify products for the "Designed for Windows" logo for hardware for Windows XP SP2, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2003. x64 submissions can be made as follows:
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For device-level qualification, use this HCT release and Windows Server 2003 SP1 RC2.
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For system-level qualification, use this HCT 12.1 RTM and Windows Server 2003 SP1 RTM.
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You can use the Microsoft Display Compatibility Test 5.3 (DCT 5.3) kit to prepare test submissions to qualify products for the "Designed for Windows" logo for hardware for Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 Server SP 1. DCT 5.3 is the DCT release that coincides with the release of HCT12.1. It replaces all versions of DCT for all operating systems that have DirectX 9 installed. The major changes in DCT 5.3 are the x64 tests and errata fixes.
Note that the DCT 5.3 kit available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/DCTkit.mspx has been repaired for setup errors. The repaired files were published online at 3PM Pacific on February 22, 2005. If you had obtained the files from the website before that time and encountered setup errors, you can download the new files now. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The WHQL Test Specification describes tests that verify new "Designed for Windows" Logo Program for Hardware requirements.
Changes for this release include new and updated tests for x64-based drivers (x64 Calling Convention test), WinSock Direct service providers, display adapters, VDS hardware providers, HD Audio devices, and updated specifications for the ChkINF, Public Import, and Signability tests. For the complete list of changes, see the "What's New" topic in the WHQL Test Specification.
Among the several major changes to the PIT tool in HCT 12.1, the PIT tool checks for a new list of illegal imports.
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System Fundamentals Tips and News
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Version 2.1 update is available for download, and these Knowledge Base articles provide information about the related Boot Loader and setting Hibernate as the default Off state:
New Windows products from Microsoft are launching in 2005. The vast majority of the new servers and high-end workstations sold in 2005 will be 64-bit capable. Now is the time to get ready for the upcoming demand of 64-bit computing. Microsoft, Intel and HP are joining to bring technical training to a city near you.
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Security and Reliability
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Follow this series discussion of security risks, vulnerabilities, and solutions from the developer's perspective.
Windows Server 2003 SP1 enhances the security infrastructure by providing new security tools, improved defense-in-depth with Data Execution Protection, and a safe and secure first-boot scenario.
Security as a Lifecycle Issue: The goal of the Secure Software Forum is to provide a starting place for cross-industry discussions and education on how best to implement an Application Security Assurance Program (ASAP).
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WinHEC and Driver DevCon News - Register by March 2 to Save
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Don't miss your chance to save. Early-bird pricing is available through March 2.
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