WDM to Vista

[john]

Will a WDM driver work with Vista or do I have to port it over to a
WDF driver?

I tried my WDM driver on Vista RC2 and it blue screen.

Is there a list of function that are no longer supported by vista that
may be in my WDM driver that is causing the BSOD?

John

 

[Don Burn]

WDM should work on Vista. If the function was truly not supported then your
driver would not load. I suspect you were doing wrong in your driver, and
Vista is different enough to catch it. Get out a debugger and see where the
crash is, then once it is fixed be sure to run the driver under the driver
verifier.

 

[john]

WDM should work on Vista. If the function was truly not supported then your
driver would not load. I suspect you were doing wrong in your driver, and
Vista is different enough to catch it. Get out a debugger and see where the
crash is, then once it is fixed be sure to run the driver under the driver
verifier.

Thanks for the response.

This driver does work with Windows XP.

The only debugger I have or use was SoftICE. I'm trying to find out if
their latest version works with Vista.

I don't know if I can get another computer to capture the debug
statements.

Any Ideas on debugging on a single computer?

John

 

[john]

WDM should work on Vista. If the function was truly not supported then your
driver would not load. I suspect you were doing wrong in your driver, and
Vista is different enough to catch it. Get out a debugger and see where the
crash is, then once it is fixed be sure to run the driver under the driver
verifier.

I forgot to mention that this driver was build on a Windows 2000
platform using the latest DDK from Microsoft.

Do I have to build it on a Windows Vista platform?

 

[Don Burn]

No, you should build for the oldest OS that you target for. On debugging if
the driver does not access hardware try using a virtual machine such as
Virtual PC or vmware. If it does access hardware, you really need a second
computer.


--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
http://www.windrvr.com
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[Doron Holan [MS]]

since softice is no longer supported, i don't think you will be able to get
it to load on vista.

d

 

[john]

since softice is no longer supported, i don't think you will be able to get
it to load on vista.

d

Softice no longer supported? That sucks. I have always used Softice
and don't know how to debug using two computers.

But since Vista won't be released until 2007 and most of our customers
won't be using Vista until about 2009 and I will be retiring from the
device driver business in 2009 (hoping for a teaching position), I
don't think I'm going to worry about Vista for now.

I should would like to fine out why my WDM driver is generating the
BSOD in Vista.

John

 

[Don Burn]

You missinterpreted things, Compuware pulled the plug on SoftIce it is no
longer supported on ANY PLATFORM. You can expect it to start having
problems on things like XP with Service Packs and hofixes. It is definitely
time for you to learn WinDBG, you still have 2.5 years or more of support.


--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
http://www.windrvr.com
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[john]

You missinterpreted things, Compuware pulled the plug on SoftIce it is no
longer supported on ANY PLATFORM. You can expect it to start having
problems on things like XP with Service Packs and hofixes. It is definitely
time for you to learn WinDBG, you still have 2.5 years or more of support.

With the near release of Vista do you think there will be anymore
Service Packs of XP in the future. Probably not! Hot fixes...
probably.

Our WDM driver is working great on Windows XP so we will probably
leave it at that for now.

As for WinDBG, yes, I should start learing it. However, trying to get
another computer for debugging in Vista will probably not be approved
since our customer are either using NT, 2000, or XP. I could only
justify another computer, if an XP hot fix breaks SoftICE and a
customer found a problem with the WDM driver. Our driver is pretty
solid and I'm not expecting that to happen. But you never know.

 

[Don Burn]

With the near release of Vista do you think there will be anymore
Service Packs of XP in the future. Probably not! Hot fixes...
probably.

Our WDM driver is working great on Windows XP so we will probably
leave it at that for now.

As for WinDBG, yes, I should start learing it. However, trying to get
another computer for debugging in Vista will probably not be approved
since our customer are either using NT, 2000, or XP. I could only
justify another computer, if an XP hot fix breaks SoftICE and a
customer found a problem with the WDM driver. Our driver is pretty
solid and I'm not expecting that to happen. But you never know.

Sorry, the SP2 beta of 2003 is ongoing, and this is supposed to preclude the
SP3 of XP. There will be service packs unless things change greatly. And I
doubt that SoftIce will last two long in the newer environements.

I doubt your driver is as solid as you state, I have tested a number of
drivers on Vista with no problem, so it is likely that there are problems.
If you want to try to find it without WinDBG, be sure that the driver worked
under driver verifier and the checked build of XP. If you can run under
Server 2003 use CUV and check the driver. You should also consider getting
the WDK (Vista DDK) and running the latest PreFast and Static Driver
Verifier on the driver. If these find problems fix them, then try Vista
again.

 

[john]

Sorry, the SP2 beta of 2003 is ongoing, and this is supposed to preclude the
SP3 of XP. There will be service packs unless things change greatly. And I
doubt that SoftIce will last two long in the newer environements.

I doubt your driver is as solid as you state, I have tested a number of
drivers on Vista with no problem, so it is likely that there are problems.
If you want to try to find it without WinDBG, be sure that the driver worked
under driver verifier and the checked build of XP. If you can run under
Server 2003 use CUV and check the driver. You should also consider getting
the WDK (Vista DDK) and running the latest PreFast and Static Driver
Verifier on the driver. If these find problems fix them, then try Vista
again.

Thanks for the info.

A couple of question, where to I get the Vista DDK and If I use
WinDBG, does the other computer have to run Vista also?

 

[Don Burn]

The Vista WDK is in beta see
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdk/betawdk.mspx
This has the latest and best tools. WinDBG can run on Windows XP or 2000
and debug any version of Windows from 2000, XP, 2003, Vista or Longhorn.


--
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DDK)
Windows 2k/XP/2k3 Filesystem and Driver Consulting
http://www.windrvr.com
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