Can't debug correctly Windows drivers with Visual Studio - visual-studio

I've written a Windows driver sample (WDM) with Visual Studio but I'm encountering issues when trying to debug it. The target is running in a Virtual Machine (VMware)
I've followed the documentation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/hh698272(v=vs.85).aspx) to configure everything.
It's compiling fine but there are problems when debugging.
I have tried various configurations and have different problems on each.
Visual Studio 2013 Preview on Win7 (host) / Win8.1 Preview (target) - VMware
It seems the debugger isn't working properly. Indeed it's like if nothing was loaded, the Modules Window is empty, when I click on "Break all" nothing is happening. As you can see in the logs, the debugger session isn't created.
Screenshot:
Logs: http://pastebin.com/DfVzGR4Z
Visual Studio 2012 on Win7 (host) / Win8 (target) - VMware
It's working correctly at the first try but if I stop the debugger to modify the driver, it'll freeze the VM. I'll then have to restart the VM, Visual Studio and kill the process ntkd.exe because otherwise I have these errors:
Failure to create process instance prevents debugging
Unable to start (null), Error 80004005. (Unspecified error)
Followed by a crash of VS (Event Name: CLR20r3)
I've tried with other samples downloaded from the MSDN but it's the same problem.
I've been stuck on these issues for weeks and I'm starting to desperate, so any help would be appreciate. I haven't tried WinDDK but since VS has everything needed, I don't see why I couldn't use it normally.

I recommend to forget using Visual Studio for driver development/debugging because, on my opinion, is not solid enough.
But targetting the debugging process, it is better to install VisualDDK and then launch vmmon/vmmon64.
In the installed application you will find a folder named "target" with an application named DDKLaunchMonitor.exe, install it in the virtual machine (it will create a boot menu option to activate kernel debugging)
When you want to debug your driver, launch vmmon, activate the option to launch windbg at vm startup, start your vm and when windows boots it will load windbg and attach to the vm.
The install your driver as desired and learn windbg.
I know this answer does not solve you problem with VS but using windbg directly is faster and better.

I was having a similar problem with: Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition, Windows 10 host, Windows 10 target, VirtualBox with host only network.
Provisioning and remote driver deployment worked, but the debugger would not connect.
Edit: In the last step of provisioning in VS2015 the Host IP can be selected. The manual method below is an alternative.
The manual setup guide for kernel mode debugging says to run the following:
bcdedit /debug on
bcdedit /dbgsettings net hostip:w.x.y.z port:n
Visual Studio automatically runs these during the provisioning process. Notice the hostip parameter - this has to be the address of the connecting machine (the one with the debugger) on the interface it uses to connect to the target. Visual Studio may set this incorrectly if you have multiple network interfaces. In my case the VirtualBox host only network created the extra network interface.
Provision the target machine in VS, if you haven't already. Then run the two bcdedit commands above and reboot the target machine. After this, the debugger should connect properly.

I came across the same problem. The windbg connection is hang. I found there is something wrong in my configuration for Kernel mode debugger settings( Visual studio 2012 Driver->test->Configuration). I set the port simply com1. Actually, it should be \.\pipe\com_1.Then it works
In your case, there maybe other configuration problems. You can check through the points on webpage http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/545835/Kernel-Mode-Debugging-in-a-VM-using-Visual-Studio.

Related

Cannot install my own written kernel driver

I've been working on a kernel-mode driver for Windows 10 using Visual Studio 2015. I can install my driver on VM (which has the exact same version of Windows that I've installed on my host computer) using Visual Studio run and it works just fine. Now I want to install it on the host PC (the primary Windows). First of all, I enabled Test Signing on it. I right clicked on driver inf file and selected Install. It asked if I was sure and I clicked on Yes. After a few seconds a dialog box is shown saying The operation completed successfully. but in fact nothing happens.
It's not being shown in Device Manager on host computer while it is on test computer.
No debug message appears in DebugView related to my driver.
NOTHING is written in setupact.log
I'm using release for x64 configuration. I wonder if there's anything I'm missing in the project config.
I also tried restarting my PC after installation, but it's not working. Can anybody help me?
The solution I found is really odd.
I was using a standard class provided by Microsoft called "SoftwareDevice" and I could install the driver on my Test computer only using Visual Studio Remote Kernel Debugger. However, I had to register and use a custom class and then I could successfully install the driver.

Debugging driver locally

Is there anyway I can test/debug Window drivers locally? That way I don't need a separate computer or to install a VM.
I followed these instructions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff553382(v=vs.85).aspx
But I can't get past the welcome screen with bcdedit /debug on enabled. My computer just hangs there.
I am using Visual Studio 2013 and the Windows 8.1 Driver Kit
In my opinion, local kernel debugging is next to worthless.
Even if it wasn't worthless, targeting a separate machine (virtual or physical) is the way to go, as kernel mode drivers under development can (and most likely will) destabilize the target machine until they're complete - something that you likely don't want happening on your development machine.

KMDF driver building using VisualDDK and Visual studio 2008

To build my driver i used VisualDDK in visual studio 2008. In the beginning i start debugging using my computer and virtualBox machine but when i launch the debugging process in visual studio, my virtual machine did not show me the external ip address(normally should show me 192.168.1.102 and 10.0.1.15 in DDKLauncherMonitor but it show me only 10.0.1.15 ).
I stopped using virtual machine and i decide to use real computer. In the second computer i launched DDKLauncherMonitor. And i start debugging from my first computer. I received Udp package in my second machine and also the driver.sys. But when i tried to load the driver from visual studio(First computer) nothing work. Plus this, in the second machine tell me "Windows required digitally signed driver".
There is same one meet this kind of problem and he/she can help.
Can you go into more details when you say "nothing works"? It's possible that your debugger is not set up properly.
This is kind of a pseudo-answer since I'm not overly aware of VisualDDK, but have you considered trying the standard Microsoft debugging tools like WinDbg? If you can acquire Visual Studio 2012 or 2013 Preview, all of the build and debug tools are integrated into the IDE and you will get full support from Microsoft with any problems you may encounter.
As for your second issue, it sounds like you're building a driver and not signing it. Is your target PC 64-bit? What operating system is it? The 64-bit Windows platform requires signed drivers for installation, but this can be disabled.
You can disable the driver signing requirement using the F8 menu when booting your PC; this should fix your "digitally signed driver required" problem, but needs to be done for each reboot.
Another option would be to add a post-build step or some sort of scripted execution of the Microsoft signing tools (Inf2cat, SignTool) to sign your driver with your company's certificate.

Remote debugging in visual studio: remote debugger does not support this edition of windows

I am trying to remote debug my application in VMware workstation 7 and Visual studio 2010 ultimate. I habe several images (win 7 ultimate,vista,etc).
I am following this tutorial: http://kristofmattei.be/2010/01/20/debugging-applications-in-virtual-machines-with-vmware-workstation-7-and-visual-studio-2008-sp1-2/
Whenever I try to start msvsmon.exe on the remote computer it will say :
"The visual studio remote debugger does not support this edition of windows"
tried it with win 7 ultimate, vista premium and xp home, same situation.
Could someone help me out here?
Thanks!
The error message "The visual studio remote debugger does not support this edition of windows" appears because the remote debugger tries to use Windows Authentication by default, and this is only supported in the "Pro" versions of Windows, and up.
However, the remote debugger does work with the "Home" versions of Windows, you just have to tell it not to use authentication via the command line.
(Why it doesn't let you do this after launching it without any arguments, why the error message is so misleading (and contradicts the official list of supported OS), and why there is so little info about this on the web, I don't know. :))
To launch it, run this:
msvsmon.exe /noauth /nosecuritywarn
Of course, this launches it in the lowest security mode, so you'd only want to do this on a secure network. (But that's usually the mode one ends up using msvcmon in anyway, as the other mode is an even bigger PITA to set up than it is normally. Very useful tool, but really could use some streamlining.)
No need to use VMWare features.
Inside the guest VM run the version of msvsmon that came with your copy of visual studio 2010 (A setup package for just the remote deubgging stuff can be found on the disc/image) (use x86 if debugging a 32-bit process or x64 if debugging 64-bit one ,Itanium if you need to laugh).
through the msvsmon GUI disable authentication and select allow any user to connect.
disable the firewall in the VM.
on the host machine you should be running visual studio 2010, under the debug dropdown select "attach to process..." and then on the window that pops up select remote from the dropdown that should say local or something initially, enter the IP address (should be private network IP i.e. 10.1.?.?) of the guest VM, alternatively use the server name displayed by the msvsmon GUI. You should get the process list for the guest and should only attach to any process that matches the version of msvsmon you ran (x86 or 64 ...or Itanium laugh).
NOTE: These are basic instructions to show you it definitely works but these instructions will only work for native code since managed requires a secure connection.
If you are debugging a .NET app using the VMWare VS Plugin and are getting a "file not found" type of error...make sure you have the .NET runtime installed! :)
Like a moron, I set up a fresh XP VM and forgot to install the .NET runtime and wasted a good day trying to get the VMWare VS Plug-In to work!
VSID is not supported by visual studio2010 http://communities.vmware.com/thread/282407

x86 Remote Debugger Service on x64

Is it possible to install the x86 Remote Debugger as a Service on a 64bit machine? I need to attach a debugger to managed code in a Session 0 process. The process runs 32bit but the debugger service that gets installed is 64bit and wont attach to the 32bit process.
I tried creating the Service using the SC command, and was able to get the service to start, and verified that it was running in Task manager processes. However, when I tried to connect to it with visual studio, it said that the remote debugger monitor wasn't enabled. When I stopped the x86 service, and started the x64 service and it was able to find the monitor, but still got an error.
Here is the error when I try to use the remote debugger:
Unable to attach to the process. The 64-bit version of the Visual Studio Remote Debugging Monitor (MSVSMON.EXE) cannot debug 32-bit processes or 32-bit dumps. Please use the 32-bit version instead.
Here is the error when I try to attach locally:
Attaching to a process in a different terminal server session is not supported on this computer. Try remote debugging to the machine and running the Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugging Monitor in the process's session.
If I try to run the 32bit remote debugger as an application, it wont work attach b/c the Remote Debugger is running in my session and not in session 0.
This works on my machine(TM) after installing rdbgsetup_x64.exe and going through the configuration wizard:
sc stop msvsmon90
sc config msvsmon90 binPath= "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger\x86\msvsmon.exe /service msvsmon90"
sc start msvsmon90
We had the same problem when trying to remote debug a website that is running as 32 bit inside 64 bit IIS.
You can also do this:
Stop the default debugging service
(which will be x64 as the installer
will have been clever and configured
that one to run).
Navigate to the Remote Debugger start
menu folder and run the x86 debugging
service. Ignore the warning about
32bit/64bit.
Open the Tools->Options window of the
remote debugger app window and make
note of the value in the 'Server
Name' text box.
Now you can attach your visual studio
to it by copying the 'Server Name'
value into the 'Qualifier' text/combo
box on the Attach To Process dialog
of Visual Studio.
On a related note, there is also a low-level bug with Kerberos authentication if you are attaching from Windows 2008/7/Vista to a 2003 machine, reported to MS (and then closed as 'external') via Connect here: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=508455
I haven't tried this, but here's a suggestion anyway:
Try installing the x86 remote debugger service manually.
sc create "Remote Debugger" binpath= "C:\use\short\filename\in\the\path\x86\msvsmon.exe /service msvsmon90"
Two notes:
You'll need to use short filenames
in the path to msvsmon.exe to
prevent having to quote the path
(since the whole command needs to be
quoted)
there must be a space after the
"binpath=" (and no space before the
'=' character). Whoever wrote the
command line parser for the sc
command should be cursed.
Then you can use the services.msc control panel applet to get it running with the right credentials.
You'll probably have to stop or maybe even delete the existing x64 remote debugger service.
I can confirm that what you want to do will indeed work. I often connect my 32 bit xp worstation to a x64 win2003 server with VS2008 remote debugger.
1) Install the x64 version. This also installs the x86 debugger but does not create a shortcut.
2) You can find the executable for x86 process debugging here... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger\x86\msvsmon.exe
3) If you want to, pin it to the task bar.
Worked for me without installing additional software. I just copied the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger folder on the VM and started the msvsmon.exe from the x86 folder. Both my guest and host are x64.
Sometimes this error occurred, I just close visual studio and open it again, everything is OK!
Very strange behavior from vs
I ran into this issue today (64 bit OS and VS 2019). I changed Configuration to use x64 for the project, IISExpress to use 64 bit and Platform target to be x64. It still used the 32 bit debugger and complained. Finally, when I enabled Script Debugging it started using the 64 bit debugger. So I would say the combination of all did the trick.

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