What's New for Debugging Tools for Windows
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Highlights in Version 6.9.3.113
In this release, you will find better performance on systems with greater memory as well as those with large CPU counts. Better performance and reliability on transport initialization. Enhancements to dt, sx, z, !defwrites, !sysinfo, !gflags, Symsrv, as well as several others. For further details, please read the RELNOTES.TXT provided in the package.
Highlights in Version 6.8.4.0
In this release, more components of the debugger are now redistributable. You will find enhancements to the !lmi and !exchain commands and Symsrv support for resource-only binaries. Numerous improvements have been made to components and commands, such as: !analyze, DBGEng reliability, live KD for Windows Vista, context handling for .frame, .dumpdebug for minidump debugging, and breakpoint list commands. Also included are updates and advances in the documentation. For further details, read the RELNOTES.TXT provided in the package.
Highlights in Beta Version 6.7.5.1
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New Features
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| • | New command-line options
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| • | Changes to default configuration
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| • | !analyze enhancements | ||||||||||||||
| • | New and updated commands: .trap, lmDv, .allow_exec_cmds, .pcmd, .dml_file, gu, .fnent, .pagein, dt, bs, bsc, bm | ||||||||||||||
| • | New options for commands: .foreach, .reload, .dump, .dumpcab, x, uf, ln, .call, .open | ||||||||||||||
| • | New and updated extensions: !chksym, !cpuid, !dml_proc, !address, !chkimage, !vm, !error | ||||||||||||||
| • | Source Server
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| • | Additional Symbol Server support
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| • | ExtCpp extension improvements
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| • | Better Debugging
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| • | New and updated Tools
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For details of all the new features in Debugging Tools for Windows, consult the documentation. To access the documentation, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Debugging Tools for Windows. After the program opens, click Debugging Help.
Highlights in Version 6.6.7.5
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New UI enhancements
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| • | New Source Server features
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| • | Additional Symbol Server support
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| • | !analyze enhancements
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| • | New and updated extensions
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| • | New and updated commands: .dumpdebug, .frame, .ignore_wow_kd_context, .cmdtree, .cache, .readmem, .typeopt, .f+, .f-, .pagein, .idle_cmd, sxr, lse, pt, tt, .dml_start, r., up, ph, th, uf, uil, .extmatch pct, tct, .copysym, $$>a<, utr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| • | New options for commands: bl, ld, .printf, .kill, .detatch, .abandon, bm, dt, dv, lm, fp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| • | New symproxy feature
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| • | Better debugging
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| • | Updated tools
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For details of all the new features in Debugging Tools for Windows, consult the documentation. To access the documentation, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Debugging Tools for Windows. After the program opens, click Debugging Help.
Highlights in Beta Version 6.6.3.5
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New UI enhancements
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| • | New Source Server features
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| • | Additional Symbol Server support
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| • | !analyze enhancements
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| • | New and updated extensions
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| • | New and updated commands: .dumpdebug, .frame, .ignore_wow_kd_context, .cmdtree, .cache, .readmem, .typeopt, .f+, .f-, .pagein, .idle_cmd, sxr, lse, pt, tt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| • | New options for commands: bl, ld, .printf, .kill, .detatch, .abandon, bm, dt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| • | New symproxy feature
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| • | Better debugging
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For details of all the new features in Debugging Tools for Windows, consult the documentation. To access the documentation, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Debugging Tools for Windows. After the program opens, click Debugging Help.
Highlights in Version 6.5.3.8
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | Compatibility updates for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 | ||||||||
| • | New EngExtCpp C++ extension framework:
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| • | Win9x user-mode compatibility fixes:
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| • | USB 2.0 kernel debugging support. Requires a Windows Vista target computer and some additional software. See debugger documentation for details. | ||||||||
| • | New tool available: DBH. | ||||||||
| • | New commands available: .allow_image_mapping, .apply_dbp, .prompt_allow, .step_filter, and .suspend_ui. | ||||||||
| • | New options available for the lm, uf, .attach, .cxr, .foreach, .opendump, and .printf commands. | ||||||||
| • | All debuggers now support .wtitle. | ||||||||
| • | New pseudo-register: $ea2. | ||||||||
| • | New automatic aliases: $CurrentDumpArchiveFile, $CurrentDumpArchivePath, $CurrentDumpFile, $CurrentDumpPath, $ntsym, $ntnsym, and $ntwsym. | ||||||||
| • | New extensions available:
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| • | New extension module fltkd.dll. This contains !cbd, !contextlist, !ctx, !filter, !filters, !fltobj, !frame, !frames, !instance, !irpctrl, !msgq, !namecachelist, !port, !portlist, !relobjs, !stats, !streamlist, !traceflags, !tracelevel, !tree, !volume, and !volumes. | ||||||||
| • | New options available for the !search extension. | ||||||||
| • | New symbol quoting syntax. | ||||||||
| • | WinDbg UI changes, including:
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| • | Source Server support for Subversion version control system. | ||||||||
| • | Updated 1394 kernel debugging drivers. | ||||||||
| • | Updates to many sections of the debugger documentation (debugger.chm). | ||||||||
| • | New documentation file, Kernel_Debugging_Tutorial.doc, aimed at customers who are familiar with other debugging tools and want to learn how to use WinDbg for kernel debugging. | ||||||||
| • | Many improvements to the !analyze extension. | ||||||||
| • | Numerous fixes to bugs in various commands and extensions reported by customers. |
For details of all the new features in Debugging Tools for Windows, consult the documentation. To access the documentation, click Start, point to Programs, and then click Debugging Tools for Windows. After the program opens, click Debugging Help.
Highlights in Version 6.4.7.2
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New SymProxy tool. See the details below. |
| • | New WinDbg UI Themes. These are preconfigured WinDbg workspaces that contain a useful configuration of debugging information windows. You can find documentation in Themes.doc. |
| • | New options for the wt and .printf commands. New options for the !Name2EE, !dumpstackobjects, !dumpobj, !dumpcollection, !dumpdomain, !eeheap, !dumpheap, !clrstack, !address, and !heap extensions. New "ReqHost" option for the TCP transport. |
| • | New commands: gc, .event_code, and .fnret. New extensions: !stl, !xpoolmap, !DumpField, !dumpacpi, !dumpcpuinfo, !dumpcpumicrocode, !dumpcpuspeed, !dumpmachineid, !dumpregisters, !dumpsmbios, !findstack, !dumpMethodSig, !DumpSig, !dumpRuntimeTypes, and !homedir. New pseudo-registers and functions: $fnsucc() and $retret64. |
| • | New extension module ks.dll, containing !allstreams, !automation, !devhdr, !dhdr, !dump, !dumpbag, !dumpcircuit, !dumplog, !dumpqueue, !enumdevobj, !enumdrvobj, !eval, !findlive, !forcedump, !graph, !help, !kshelp, !libexts, !objhdr, !ohdr, !pchelp, !pciaudio, !pciks, !shdr, and !topology. |
| • | Symbol server support for cascading downstream stores. You can now use multiple downstream stores to cache symbols sequentially. If one store is inaccessible, the chain is not broken. |
SymProxy now allows you to create a single HTTP symbol server in your network to which all of your debuggers can point. This has the benefit of pointing to multiple symbol servers (both internal and external) with a single symbol path, handling authentication, and increasing performance through symbol caching. You can find documentation in symhttp.doc.
Highlights in Beta Version 6.4.4.4
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New tools, including AgeStore and rtlist. | ||||||||||||
| • | New options for the e, g, s, x, .attach, .create, .dump, .logopen, .open, .process, .shell, .thread, and .time commands. The .restart command now works remotely. New options available for the !list extension. | ||||||||||||
| • | New commands: dpa, dpu, ub, .extpath, .scroll_prefs, .flash_on_break, .sound_notify, !can_write_kdump, !GCHandleLeaks, !GCHandles, and !StopOnException. | ||||||||||||
| • | WinDbg UI changes, including:
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| • | Many improvements to the !analyze extension. | ||||||||||||
| • | Numerous bug fixes to various commands and extensions reported by customers. |
Highlights in Version 6.3.17
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | Support for the next generation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. |
| • | New user interface (UI) management capabilities in WinDbg. |
| • | Many improvements to the !analyze extension. |
| • | Improved extension interface documentation (debugext.chm). If you want to access this documentation or build debugger extensions, you should perform a custom install of Debugging Tools for Windows and select all features. |
| • | The ability to execute a series of debugger commands programmatically or create a more complicated "program" by using flow control. This allows you to conditionally execute commands or even pipe the output of one command into another. New control flow tokens include .foreach, .do, .for, .while, .if, .elsif, .else, .catch, .break, .continue, and .leave. Aliases are used as the "local variables" in these programs. |
| • | Multiple new options for setting aliases. |
| • | Numerous bug fixes to various commands and extensions reported by customers. |
WinDbg now features enhanced UI management capabilities. Support for window docking, window tear-off, and window tabs has been added to allow users more flexibility in configuring the user interface.
Some features of the new WinDbg UI include:
| • | Window docking |
| • | Window tear-off |
| • | Window tabs |
Tips for using the new WinDbg UI:
| • | At startup, all WinDbg UI windows are in an "undocked" state. To dock the window, double-click it or drag it into the main WinDbg frame window. |
| • | To tab a window, drag the window to the other window to which you want to tab it, moving the mouse to the center of the window. Drop it when you see the outline of the dragged window match the frame of the other window. Switch between the tabbed windows by pressing CTRL+TAB. |
For full details, see the Debugging Tools for Windows help file.
Highlights in Beta Version 6.3.5
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New support for managed code debugging that requires Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. |
| • | Many improvements to the !analyze extension. |
| • | Internal debugger support for Unicode. |
| • | Numerous new options and many bug fixes in SymChk and SymStore. |
| • | New options for the bp, bm, bu, ba, dt, d, s, x, and .logopen commands. New options to DbEngPrx. New options to the !process and !thread extensions. |
| • | Numerous bug fixes to various commands and extensions reported by customers. |
Highlights in Version 6.2.13.1
The following changes have been made to Debugging Tools for Windows:
| • | New debugger extension interface documentation. To install this documentation, perform a custom install of the package and select all features. |
| • | New commands, including .send_file, .record_branches, .ignore_missing_pages, and .quit_lock, .ttime, .fpo. |
| • | New options to the dv command. |
| • | New d[d|q|p]p command that can walk one level of pointer indirection for data on the stack. |
| • | Numerous improved debugger extensions, including !chkimg, !exchain, !verifier, !runaway, and !vm. |
| • | New options for the SymChk and SymStore tools. |
| • | Updated IEEE 1394 debugging drivers. |
| • | x64 debugging updates. |
| • | Resolution of all reported bugs. |