Microsoft paid support for driver development?

Hello,

So, I have spent tons of hours trying to resolve an issue, and have not been able to resolve it through community forums, so I need to take it up a notch. Does anyone know how we can get direct support from Microsoft for our kernel mode driver development question? Of course, it wouldn’t be free, but at least we will resolve our issue. Anyway, I would appreciate your help with the contact information.

Thanks,

Mike

Just search microsoft support in your country and apply there. After you ask your question you will directed to a proper support guy.

Last time the fee was like ~ 500 USD per incident (in Europe). But don’t expect they will be very helpfuil, it depends on question. Sometimes they just might confirm what you already know.

A better ?ay will be to buy Ida Pro license (~700 EUR) and search for answer yourself.

Wow, how familiar this question sounds, oh, it’s because it’s been answered on the WDK forum. Those answers were to select the support button on the forums page, or, given you have an MSDN subscription, use one of your support calls that are included in the subscription.

Gary G. Little
Certified Contest Administrator
C 952-454-4629
H 952-223-1349

On May 4, 2011, at 1:30, xxxxx@a-bit-of-help.com wrote:

Hello,

So, I have spent tons of hours trying to resolve an issue, and have not been able to resolve it through community forums, so I need to take it up a notch. Does anyone know how we can get direct support from Microsoft for our kernel mode driver development question? Of course, it wouldn’t be free, but at least we will resolve our issue. Anyway, I would appreciate your help with the contact information.

Thanks,

Mike


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I would presume we would either need a different support type or we would not get any support at all.
Are you saying we can use MSDN incidents to have them figure a Filter Manager workaround for one of the many issues it has?:slight_smile: Good thing I stocked up on several MSDN subscriptions :wink:

Gary Little wrote:

Wow, how familiar this question sounds, oh, it’s because it’s been answered on the WDK forum. Those answers were to select the support button on the forums page, or, given you have an MSDN subscription, use one of your support calls that are included in the subscription.


Kind regards, Dejan (MSN support: xxxxx@alfasp.com)
http://www.alfasp.com
File system audit, security and encryption kits.

Dejan,

The question is “Why not?” The WDK is included in my MSDN subscription, and I have called on kernel/WDK issues I have had at times. You get 5 calls, annually. They don’t say anywhere in the contract, that I read … ok “skimmed” … that you cannot call about kernel and WDK problems. I have NEVER used more than 1 or two calls a year and I’ve maintained a subscription for about 15 years.

Gary G. Little

----- Original Message -----
From: “Dejan Maksimovic”
To: “Windows System Software Devs Interest List”
Sent: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 1:17:19 PM
Subject: Re: [ntdev] Microsoft paid support for driver development?

I would presume we would either need a different support type or we would not get any support at all.
Are you saying we can use MSDN incidents to have them figure a Filter Manager workaround for one of the many issues it has?:slight_smile: Good thing I stocked up on several MSDN subscriptions :wink:

Gary Little wrote:

> Wow, how familiar this question sounds, oh, it’s because it’s been answered on the WDK forum. Those answers were to select the support button on the forums page, or, given you have an MSDN subscription, use one of your support calls that are included in the subscription.


Kind regards, Dejan (MSN support: xxxxx@alfasp.com)
http://www.alfasp.com
File system audit, security and encryption kits.


NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

I have no clue at ALL about MSDN incidents, but I *do* seem to recall that Microsoft Developer Support *did* add support for Filter Manager issues a few years back.

So, it is at least theoretically possible to contact developer support and get help with a Filter Manager problem. How timely, or how effective, the support you will receive is not clear.

Peter
OSR

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for much for your help with my question about contacting Microsoft. We have an MSDN subscription, so I will try to use it; If it fails, then, hopefully, their Technical Support can help me to figure out my issue. It will r-e-a-l-l-y suck if they simply give a canned answer like Volodymyr said. If I resolve our issue, I will post it in my questions on this site.

Thanks again,

Mike

My experience with them is that you will NOT get a canned answer. It may take a few hours and or days, but my experience is that once the issue is filed and you have been assigned a ticket, you will get a call back from the folks that the initial contact surmised would best solve your problem. I may take a call or two to get to the right level, but my experience had been that you will get there, even to talking tot he developers. In the Access problem I mentioned I was contacted AFTER the ticket had been closed to see how things were going. Just be pleasant, do your homework , and be willing to work with them.

Gary G. Little

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxx@a-bit-of-help.com
To: “Windows System Software Devs Interest List”
Sent: Thursday, May 5, 2011 3:09:02 AM
Subject: RE:[ntdev] Microsoft paid support for driver development?

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for much for your help with my question about contacting Microsoft. We have an MSDN subscription, so I will try to use it; If it fails, then, hopefully, their Technical Support can help me to figure out my issue. It will r-e-a-l-l-y suck if they simply give a canned answer like Volodymyr said. If I resolve our issue, I will post it in my questions on this site.

Thanks again,

Mike


NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

Our client’s experiences mirror Gary’s. You don’t get canned answers and the folks with whom you interact really DO try to help. You will eventually GET an answer.

In the many cases I’ve seen, WDK Developer Support can be effective but in most cases it requires significant patience (answers are typically produced in days or weeks, not minutes or hours) and you sometimes have to sift through and disqualify the initial responses you get. Let’s face it, the typical support people with whom you interact – especially initially – aren’t exactly the most senior or experienced folks. When you place a call developer support, it’s not like Doron answers the phone, right? And for $500, it’s not like you can expect somebody to drop everything they’re doing and work solely on your problem day and night.

If the experiences of our clients are any indication (maybe they’re not… there’s a reason they wind up calling OSR), IF you can CLEARLY describe your problem, provide the relevant details, do your homework, and be persistent and patient, you’re just as likely (probably MORE likely) to get your problem resolved here on NTDEV or NTFSD as you are on by calling WDK Developer Support.

I don’t mean to harsh on MSFT WDK developer support: It’s a good service and it DOES work for the right class of problems. One thing they’ll do that few folks here on NTDEV will do for you is, if you send them a subset of your code, they’ll reproduce the problem as an aide to helping you solve it. In the cases I’ve seen, the class of problems WDK developer support is best at solving are routine issues raised by newer driver devs.

Peter
OSR

We work with their developers directly most of the time but we do use
PSS support sometimes depending on the problem and the outcome I want.

In some cases we still file support even though we may have known the
answer. We can get the theory confirmed officially by msft and convey
it to OEMs. It is more convincing to DELL, IBM, HP etc if you say
“Microsoft said this”. They can get the case Number to follow up if
they have further questions.

We have TAM so we could get to the right person quickly. The
experience I have with WDK support is very positive and sometimes well
beyond my expectation. $500 is a very small number compared to the
work they have done by engineers at that calibre. I agree with Peter
that one would need to do their homework and be patient. But they
indeed do an excellent job.

Calvin

On Wednesday, May 4, 2011, wrote:
> Just search microsoft support in your country and apply there. After you ask your question you will directed to a proper support guy.
>
> Last time the fee was like ~ 500 USD per incident (in Europe). But don’t expect they will be very helpfuil, it depends on question. Sometimes they just might confirm what you already know.
>
> A better ?ay will be to buy Ida Pro license (~700 EUR) and search for answer yourself.
>
> —
> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>
> For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
> http://www.osr.com/seminars
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer
>