Development Environment to build WDF driver

Hi All,

I want to develop a wdf driver and want to know what the best environment is to do it.
At the moment I installed Windows 10 in Virtual Box (VirtualKD-3.0) and use WinDbg. Sometimes I have problem loading the symbols and I think it can be easier.
I have VS 2017 and I have seen that it is also possible to debug directly from VS with WinDbg.

Thanks for your help.

VS2015 for building drivers. Windbg for debugging. You don’t really need
VirtualKD. A W10 target can use network debug ports on virtual box. Symbol
problems are almost always because you have not set your symbols up
correctly.

Mark Roddy

On Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 3:18 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com <
xxxxx@lists.osr.com> wrote:

Hi All,

I want to develop a wdf driver and want to know what the best environment
is to do it.
At the moment I installed Windows 10 in Virtual Box (VirtualKD-3.0) and
use WinDbg. Sometimes I have problem loading the symbols and I think it can
be easier.
I have VS 2017 and I have seen that it is also possible to debug directly
from VS with WinDbg.

Thanks for your help.


NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

Visit the list online at: http:> showlists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>
> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
> software drivers!
> Details at http:
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
></http:></http:>

Follow the instructions here for setting up your symbols:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/symbol-path

On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 10:26 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com <
xxxxx@lists.osr.com> wrote:

Can you tell me how you do set the symbols, image and source path? Do you
use this _NT* environment variables and when how?

Why using VS 2015?
VS2017 is stable and have some great features for developing drivers. I
like it to use one environment for coding ,debugging and testing.

Manfred

From: on behalf of “
> xxxxx@gmail.com
> Reply-To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Date: Sunday 14 January 2018 at 16:53
> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
> Subject: Re: [ntdev] Development Environment to build WDF driver
>
> VS2015 for building drivers. Windbg for debugging. You don’t really need
> VirtualKD. A W10 target can use network debug ports on virtual box. Symbol
> problems are almost always because you have not set your symbols up
> correctly.
>
> Mark Roddy
>
> On Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 3:18 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com <
> xxxxx@lists.osr.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I want to develop a wdf driver and want to know what the best environment
>> is to do it.
>> At the moment I installed Windows 10 in Virtual Box (VirtualKD-3.0) and
>> use WinDbg. Sometimes I have problem loading the symbols and I think it can
>> be easier.
>> I have VS 2017 and I have seen that it is also possible to debug directly
>> from VS with WinDbg.
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>>
>> —
>> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>>
>> Visit the list online at: http:>> lists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>>
>> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
>> software drivers!
>> Details at http:
>>
>> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
>> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
>>
>
> — NTDEV is sponsored by OSR Visit the list online at: MONTHLY seminars
> on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and software drivers!
> Details at To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
>
> —
> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>
> Visit the list online at: http:> showlists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>
> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
> software drivers!
> Details at http:
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
></http:></http:></http:></http:>

On Jan 14, 2018, at 10:26 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com wrote:
>
> Why using VS 2015?
> VS2017 is stable and have some great features for developing drivers.

Like what? It has been my experience that driver developers rarely want to be on the bleeding edge of their tools. We want something that’s well-established. VS2017 is still pretty new.

I don’t actually use the IDE. I edit in “gvim”, and then run “msbuild” from the command line. I’ve heard there may be glitzy new features in the IDE, but the sad fact is that I can bring up a file in gvim, make a change, build it, copy it to my test machine, test it, and bring up the editor again before the IDE has even displayed its first window. I just don’t have the patience.

Tim Roberts, xxxxx@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

Because up until 1709 VS2017 was not supported for dri ver builds. So I’ll
amend my comment, if you are using the 1709 WDK then use VS2017, otherwise
use VS2015. To amplify what Tim said: I use msbuild and a (power)shell
script to run builds. I’m currently using VSCODE to edit source code. We
change build tools infrequently, so when a new WDK version comes out that
requires a build tools change, we are unlikely to use either the new WDK or
the new build tools until there is a compelling reason to do so.

Mark Roddy

On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 11:54 PM, xxxxx@probo.com
wrote:

> On Jan 14, 2018, at 10:26 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com <
> xxxxx@lists.osr.com> wrote:
>
>
> Why using VS 2015?
> VS2017 is stable and have some great features for developing drivers.
>
>
> Like what? It has been my experience that driver developers rarely want
> to be on the bleeding edge of their tools. We want something that’s
> well-established. VS2017 is still pretty new.
>
> I don’t actually use the IDE. I edit in “gvim”, and then run “msbuild”
> from the command line. I’ve heard there may be glitzy new features in the
> IDE, but the sad fact is that I can bring up a file in gvim, make a change,
> build it, copy it to my test machine, test it, and bring up the editor
> again before the IDE has even displayed its first window. I just don’t
> have the patience.
> —
> Tim Roberts, xxxxx@probo.com
> Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.
>
>
> —
> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>
> Visit the list online at: http:> showlists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>
> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
> software drivers!
> Details at http:
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
></http:></http:>

@Mark

You said:

> I use msbuild and a (power)shell script to run builds. I’m currently using VSCODE to edit source code.

I use VSCODE too in other project.
What do you do with powershell. Do you make remote calls to the system with Get-WmiObject?

No I just use a powershell script to run msbuild - set up the environment,
provide the correct parameters etc.

Mark Roddy

On Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 9:31 AM, xxxxx@x-publisher.com <
xxxxx@lists.osr.com> wrote:

@Mark

You said:
>> I use msbuild and a (power)shell script to run builds. I’m currently
using VSCODE to edit source code.

I use VSCODE too in other project.
What do you do with powershell. Do you make remote calls to the system
with Get-WmiObject?


NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

Visit the list online at: http:> showlists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>
> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
> software drivers!
> Details at http:
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
></http:></http:>

xxxxx@gmail.com wrote:

To amplify what Tim said: I use msbuild and a (power)shell script to
run builds. I’m currently using VSCODE to edit source code.

I have to say, your endorsement made me take a look at VSCode.  That’s a
pretty slick tool.  It might actually coax me away from vim.


Tim Roberts, xxxxx@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

Full integration is a WIP for me right now. I want full error reporting
integration and that is not working for me yet. (Click on the error go to
the code.) But it’s close. Obviously MSFT would rather you use the bulky VS.

Mark Roddy

On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 3:08 PM, xxxxx@probo.com wrote:

> xxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > To amplify what Tim said: I use msbuild and a (power)shell script to
> > run builds. I’m currently using VSCODE to edit source code.
>
> I have to say, your endorsement made me take a look at VSCode. That’s a
> pretty slick tool. It might actually coax me away from vim.
>
> –
> Tim Roberts, xxxxx@probo.com
> Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.
>
>
> —
> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>
> Visit the list online at: http:> showlists.cfm?list=ntdev>
>
> MONTHLY seminars on crash dump analysis, WDF, Windows internals and
> software drivers!
> Details at http:
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at <
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer&gt;
></http:></http:>

ONE (significant, to me) advantage of the 1709 WDK over the earlier (VS2015 compliant) WDK is that SDV is significantly better. It uses a new engine, IIRC. CA finds more errors, as well.

VS 2015 was a “work in progress” for a long time. The first release of the re-written compiler. I was happy to put it in my rear view mirror.

Peter
OSR
@OSRDrivers