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WPP Software Tracing

This section describes how to use the default operation of the Windows software trace preprocessor (WPP) to trace a driver's operation. WPP software tracing is supported on Microsoft® Windows® XP and later.

WPP software tracing in kernel-mode drivers supplements and enhances WMI event tracing by adding conventions and mechanisms that simplify tracing a driver's operation. It is an efficient mechanism for user-mode applications and kernel-mode drivers to log real-time binary messages. The logged messages can subsequently be converted to a human-readable trace of the driver's operation.

Logging messages with WPP software tracing is similar to using Windows event logging services. The driver logs a message ID and unformatted binary data in a log file. Subsequently, a postprocessor converts the information in the log file to a human-readable form. However, WPP software tracing supports message formats that are more capable and flexible than that supported by the event logging services. For example, WPP software tracing has built-in support for IP addresses, GUIDs, system IDs, time stamps, and other useful data types. In addition, users can add types relevant to their application.

This section contains the following topics:

Using WPP Software Tracing in a Driver

Adding WPP Macros to a Driver

WPP Preprocessor

WPP Utilities and Files

Sample WPP Software Tracing Code

WPP Software Tracing Reference

For information about the WMI library support routines that support WPP software tracing, see:

WmiQueryTraceInformation

WmiTraceMessage

WmiTraceMessageVa

See the Platform SDK documentation for general information about event tracing for Windows, WPP software tracing for user-mode applications, and all the options available with WPP software tracing.