Debugging drivers during Win2K Setup

NTDEV
1

Hi There,

I load my driver during Windows 2000 setup (Text Mode Setup Phase) by
pressing F6 key and need to debug it. Can somebdy suggest an approach to
debugging my driver when loaded during Win2K installation using F6 (Text
Mode Setp phase)?

I am obviously not able to use WinDbg, so I thought of writing debug
messages to a file on the disk. But am not able to do as I think the
symbolic links to the device objects(in this case c:) or may be even the
device objects itself are not being created.

A more general question is: What exactly is going on during the Win2K
Setup? I can see a message during the Text Mode Setup phase that says
“Starting Windows 2000”. Is the kernel really started during the text mode
setup phase of Win2K installation? If yes, does the kernel behave exactly
the same way as it does during normal boot-up sequence?

Does smebody know of any links to docs explaining what goes on during
Win2K setup as to when the kernel is started and what portion of the
registry are accessable when?

Thanks in advance!

2

If you look on the W2K CD, you will see a file that controls setup
“\I386\txtsetup.sif”
Searching in that file, you will find a key called OsLoadOptions.
This is what the key looks like on my Advanced Server CD
OsLoadOptions = “/fastdetect /noguiboot /nodebug”

You probably recognize those are the same sort of switches that
are placed in boot.ini. You should be able to enable WinDbg during
Txtmode setup by changing this file (it’s been a while since I’ve
done it, so YMMV).

regards,
-elliot

-----Original Message-----
From: Win2kNewBie [mailto:xxxxx@yahoo.co.in]
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 5:27 AM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Debugging drivers during Win2K Setup

Hi There,

I load my driver during Windows 2000 setup (Text Mode Setup Phase) by
pressing F6 key and need to debug it. Can somebdy suggest an approach to
debugging my driver when loaded during Win2K installation using F6 (Text
Mode Setp phase)?

I am obviously not able to use WinDbg, so I thought of writing debug
messages to a file on the disk. But am not able to do as I think the
symbolic links to the device objects(in this case c:) or may be even the
device objects itself are not being created.

A more general question is: What exactly is going on during the Win2K
Setup? I can see a message during the Text Mode Setup phase that says
“Starting Windows 2000”. Is the kernel really started during the text mode
setup phase of Win2K installation? If yes, does the kernel behave exactly
the same way as it does during normal boot-up sequence?

Does smebody know of any links to docs explaining what goes on during
Win2K setup as to when the kernel is started and what portion of the
registry are accessable when?

Thanks in advance!

You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@veritas.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%%

3

Good point.
I believe he need to look at “Using Debugging Tools for Windows” help-file | Debugging Techniques |
Advanced Debugging Techniques | Debugging Windows Setup and OS Loader

Happy Debugging,
Timur

“Elliot Murphy” ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:xxxxx@ntdev…
:
: If you look on the W2K CD, you will see a file that controls setup
: “\I386\txtsetup.sif”
: Searching in that file, you will find a key called OsLoadOptions.
: This is what the key looks like on my Advanced Server CD
: OsLoadOptions = “/fastdetect /noguiboot /nodebug”
:
: You probably recognize those are the same sort of switches that
: are placed in boot.ini. You should be able to enable WinDbg during
: Txtmode setup by changing this file (it’s been a while since I’ve
: done it, so YMMV).
:
: regards,
: -elliot
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Win2kNewBie [mailto:xxxxx@yahoo.co.in]
: Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 5:27 AM
: To: NT Developers Interest List
: Subject: [ntdev] Debugging drivers during Win2K Setup
:
:
: Hi There,
:
: I load my driver during Windows 2000 setup (Text Mode Setup Phase) by
: pressing F6 key and need to debug it. Can somebdy suggest an approach to
: debugging my driver when loaded during Win2K installation using F6 (Text
: Mode Setp phase)?
:
: I am obviously not able to use WinDbg, so I thought of writing debug
: messages to a file on the disk. But am not able to do as I think the
: symbolic links to the device objects(in this case c:) or may be even the
: device objects itself are not being created.
:
: A more general question is: What exactly is going on during the Win2K
: Setup? I can see a message during the Text Mode Setup phase that says
: “Starting Windows 2000”. Is the kernel really started during the text mode
: setup phase of Win2K installation? If yes, does the kernel behave exactly
: the same way as it does during normal boot-up sequence?
:
: Does smebody know of any links to docs explaining what goes on during
: Win2K setup as to when the kernel is started and what portion of the
: registry are accessable when?
:
: Thanks in advance!
:
:
:
:
: —
: You are currently subscribed to ntdev as: xxxxx@veritas.com
: To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%%
:
:
:

4

Thanks a lot, Elliot and Timur. It worked!