[IMPORTANT — Before you update to VS 2015 Update 1, check out this article] Now that TH2 has been out for a couple of weeks, the Version 1511 update of the Windows Driver Kit 10 has been released. Note that this new WDK requires you to use Visual Studio 2015 Update 1, which was also […]
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 […]
Right Click Your DML!
You all know and love DML, those hyperlinks that show up in WinDbg output and allow you to click around aimlessly while you ponder what the crash code means (“PC LOAD LETTER??”). But, did you know that DML is even better in the Windows 10 build of WinDbg? Support has been added for a game changing feature: […]
Windows 10 WDK + Visual Studio 2015 Issues
Now that the WDK is tightly integrated with Visual Studio, an update to the WDK can also mean an that a new version of Visual Studio is required. That’s the case for the Windows 10 WDK: You’ll need to install Visual Studio 2015 to be able to use the Windows 10 WDK. The good news is […]
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: Breaking Windows
One of my favorite parts of learning a new programming model is learning what happens when something fails. Getting a simple program built and running is fun and all, but until you dig in to a serious project you don’t realize what the repercussions are for your stupid blindly obvious mistakes. Once you do make […]
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.
OSR Open Systems Resources, Inc.