Archive for August 4th, 2008

WinDbg shortcuts: !envvar

Monday, August 4th, 2008

More than a year ago I wrote a post about checking computer name in various memory dump types:

Where did the crash dump come from?

Today I found yet another shortcut for process memory dumps using WinDbg command !envvar:

0:003> !envvar COMPUTERNAME
        COMPUTERNAME = MYHOMEPC

Of course, we can use it for any other variable. It also works for complete memory dumps but we need to set the appropriate process context first:

3: kd> !envvar PATH
        PATH = C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;[...]

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

DebugWare Patterns (Part 3)

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Many products have lots of configuration parameters stored in OS configuration database, Windows registry. Some of parameters are internal and some are public but never exposed via product GUI or management consoles. Configuration parameters can be related to product functionality or can make troubleshooting and debugging easier, for example, additional tracing parameters to set the verbosity level of debugging output or enable additional safety checks. These parameters can be scattered across different registry branches or keys. Therefore another pattern frequently seen in troubleshooting and debugging tools is called:

Configuration Wrapper

Here excellent example is Microsoft tool:

Gflags

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -