Monitoring Global Counters

Global counters are statistics that monitor some of the actions that Driver Verifier performs on drivers. These statistics are drawn from all drivers being verified, except for graphics drivers.

Global counters can be viewed by using the Verifier Command Line, or by using the Driver Verifier Manager graphical interface. There are two versions of Driver Verifier Manager — one for Windows 2000 and one for Windows XP and later.

Verifier Command Line

To view global counters, use the verifier /query command. This will show both global counters and individual counters.

Global counters are also included in Driver Verifier log files.

Driver Verifier Manager (Windows 2000)

To view global counters, select the Global Counters tab. This tab includes almost all of the global counters. (However, the Not Tracked Allocations counter is on the Pool Tracking screen, and the 95% special pool alert is on the Driver Status screen, as described immediately below.)

Driver Verifier Manager (Windows XP and later)

To view global counters, start Driver Verifier Manager and select the Display information about the currently verified drivers task. Then press Next twice.

Explanation of Global Counters

The following global counters monitor statistics related to the Forcing IRQL Checking option. These counters include actions performed since the last boot by all kernel-mode drivers that are currently being verified.

IRQL Raises

The number of times verified drivers raised the IRQL.

Spinlocks Acquired

The number of times verified drivers acquired spin locks.

Executions Synchronized

The number of times verified drivers synchronized the execution of a given routine with the ISR associated with a given interrupt object pointer.

Trims

The number of times Driver Verifier trimmed all pageable memory.

The following global counter monitors a statistic related to the Low Resources Simulation option.

Faults Injected

The total number of resource allocations failed deliberately by Driver Verifier since the last boot. (This only applies to kernel-mode drivers, not to graphics drivers.)

The following global counters monitor statistics related to the Special Memory Pool option. These counters always reflect the allocations attempted since the last boot by all kernel-mode drivers that are currently being verified. Graphics drivers are not included in these totals.

Pool Allocations Attempted

The total number of memory allocations attempted by these drivers.

Pool Allocations Succeeded

The number of allocation attempts that succeeded.

Pool Allocations Succeeded in Special Pool

The number of allocation attempts that succeeded, and were assigned from the special pool.

Pool Allocations Without Tag

The number of times these drivers requested memory allocations but did not supply a pool tag. (Pool tags are always recommended for every allocation.)

Pool Allocations Failed

The number of allocation attempts that failed, due to lack of memory.

If Special Memory Pool is enabled, but less than 95% of all pool allocations have been assigned from the special pool, a warning will appear. In Windows XP and later, this warning will appear in a popup window on the Global Counters screen. In Windows 2000, this warning will appear on the Driver Status screen.

The following global counter monitors a statistic related to the Special Memory Pool and Memory Pool Tracking options. It will always be zero if Memory Pool Tracking is not active.

Pool Allocations Not Tracked

The number of untracked allocations from all drivers currently being verified. Allocations whose size is one page or larger are not tracked by Memory Pool Tracking and cannot be allocated from the special pool. The individual counters do not reflect these allocations. (In Windows 2000, this counter can be found on the Pool Tracking screen under the title Not Tracked Allocations.)