Microsoft has just published a new Channel 9 Video that explains many of our long-standing questions about driver signing. The video was made during last month’s PlugFest that took place at MSFT. The basic policy is “New drivers must be signed by Microsoft” — This will be enforced starting in Windows Anniversary Edition (RS1) and Server […]
Turning DbgPrint Statements into WPP Tracing
As surprising as you may find this, I’m going to write a couple of blog posts about WPP Tracing. Some Background for Context Those of you who’ve followed us for a while know that we haven’t exactly been known as fans of WPP Tracing over the past few years. Well, as Chaucer said “As tyme […]
Checked Kernel and HAL back in the WDK!
While installing an entire checked build has always been a pain, a Partial Checked Build gives you the majority of the benefit without all of the hassle. For a long while now the WDK has shipped with the checked kernel and HAL from the corresponding Windows release, which made it even easier to get your code running […]
Fun With WinDBG – NatVis Support
Complex data structures are a way of life when you’re dealing with drivers. A lot of the structures at driver callbacks end up being gnarly enough, and it’s not uncommon to write a few of your own. Wading your way through the 9 layers of pointers to divine something about the driver state at the […]
Some Things Are Best Left to Experts. Really.
I know this is going to sound like I’m “feathering my own nest” but that’s really not my goal here. Instead, I’m trying my best to keep the unwary from getting themselves (and their projects) screwed by rushing in where angels fear to tread. Over on our NTDEV list, we regularly get driver development questions […]
Questions and Answers: Windows 10 Driver Signing
Update (2 June 2016): Traditional cross-signing works for all Windows versions prior to Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Windows Server 2016. Whether you need a SHA1 or SHA2 certificate depends on the version of Windows. All versions of Windows from Windows 7 onward, when properly updated, will accept SHA2 certificates. You do not need to SIGN with an EV certificate, but you’ll need an […]
Newbie Corner: The Newbie Gets a Taste of Architecture
A few weeks ago, I was in Virginia taking the Windows Internals and Software Drivers seminar put on by (you guessed it) OSR. It turns out we train our own engineers in the same way that we train others, and I’m really glad I was able to go. Software architecture is a funny thing. I’m […]
Newbie Corner: There’s a type for that! The Unexpected World of Windows Kernel Types
This post is the first in a series from our newest Software Design Engineer, Chris Barr. Chris has lots of cool low level programming experience (including UEFI), though not necessarily on Windows. We’ve asked him to post about anything that comes across as interesting, unexpected, fun, or strange while learning Windows kernel mode development. It’s […]
Binary Literals in VS2015 — I Can’t Wait!
There are a couple of feature of C/C++ in Visual Studio 2015 that are easy to overlook, but that I’m really looking forward to using. Two of those features that I’m most eagerly anticipating are support for binary literals and digit separators. Together, these promise to make life easier for Windows driver developers.
SAL Annotations: Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful
OK, well, I don’t think anyone is going argue for the beauty of SAL annotations. However, just because they’re hideous to look at doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t bother with them. In fact, here at OSR one might say we’ve become obsessed with SAL annotations. We find ourselves annotating functions more and more, especially when […]
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