windbg

best technique for launching a windbg user-mode remote debugging session

What is your favorite technique for launching a windbg user-mode remote debugging session? Why is do you prefer this technique over other techniques? (pros/cons) There are at least four different ways to do user-mode remote debug using windbg, as documented in the "Remote Debugging" section of the debugging tools for windows help file. ...

Interpreting Stacks in Windows Minidumps

As someone who is just starting to learn the intricacies of computer debugging, for the life of me, I can't understand how to read the Stack Text of a dump in Windbg. I've no idea of where to start on how to interpret them or how to go about it. Can anyone offer direction to this poor soul? ie (the only dump I have on hand with me actua...

Diagnosing Deadlocks in Win32 Program

What are the steps and techniques to debug an apparent hang due to a deadlock in a Win32 production process. I heard that WinDbg can be used for this purpose but could you please provide clear hints on how this can be accomplished? ...

Stack overflow from .NET code in IIS, but not in Winforms

Hello all. So I have a nasty stack overflow I have been trying to track down / solve for the past 8 hours or so, and I'm at the point where i think i need advice. The details: Interestingly enough this code runs fine when called in the context of our regular winforms application -- but I am tasked with writing a web-based version of ...

Triggering a .NET garbage collection externally

Is there a way to trigger a garbage collection in a .NET process from another process or from inside WinDBG? There are the Managed Debugging Assistants that force a collection as you move across a native/managed boundary, and AQTime seems to have button that suggests it does this, but I can't find any documentation on how to do it. ...

Finding GDI/User resource usage from a crash dump

I have a crash dump of an application that is supposedly leaking GDI. The app is running on XP and I have no problems loading it into WinDbg to look at it. Previously we have use the Gdikdx.dll extension to look at Gdi information but this extension is not supported on XP or Vista. Does anyone have any pointers for finding GDI object...

How do you resolve crashing Windbg Logger on Vista?

I would like to use the Logger tool that ships with the Microsoft Debugging Tools for Windows. However, on Vista it crashes even with built-in Vista applications: > logger calc or > logger notepad The issue occurs if I run the tool from a command prompt with or without administrator rights. I'm using version 3.01 (3/20/2008). T...

Why use windbg vs the Visual Studio (VS) debugger ?

What are the major reasons for using Windbg vs the Visual Studio debugger? Edit: and is it commonly used as a complete replacement for the VS debugger, or more for when the need arises. ...

Dump CCWs and RCWs in a mixed managed/unmanaged process

I have a mixed managed/unmanaged environment (Visual Studio and ReSharper) and I suspect CCW or RCW leak. Is there any way to dump all currently allocated wrappers and identify their source/target? I have WinDbg, SOS & SOSEx, so I can see total number of RCWs and CCWs with !syncblk command. I just want to see objects, so I can call !gcro...

What is your favourite Windbg tip/trick?

I have come to realize that Windbg is a very powerful debugger for the Windows platform & I learn something new about it once in a while. Can fellow Windbg users share some of their mad skills? ps: I am not looking for a nifty command, those can be found in the documentation. How about sharing tips on doing something that one couldn't o...

ACCESS_VIOLATION_BAD_IP

Hey guys, I am trying to figure out a crash in my application. WinDbg tells me the following: (using dashes in place of underscores) LAST-CONTROL-TRANSFER: from 005f5c7e to 6e697474 DEFAULT-BUCKET-ID: BAD_IP BUGCHECK-STR: ACCESS-VIOLATION It is obvious to me that 6e697474 is NOT a valid address. I have three questions: 1) Does t...

WinDbg Dr. Watson minidump - requires pdb/dll originally built for installed version?

I have a mindmp file from a target's application crash. Is it possible for me to rebuild the dll/pdb files for a version of software and have windbg load symbols correctly? My problem is that our pdb files are only kept for major releases (unfortunately). This is a daily build, which I can rebuild myself, but I'm getting tripped up on ...

Starting to learn Windbg

After being troubled by an issue that I simply did not have the knowledge to debug, I've just decided that I have to learn how to use Windbg. My only problem: I have no clue where to start :-( I'm not really a WinApi-Guy, having use languages that abstract the Windows Api away from me usually. So I just wonder: What is the best souce (B...

Debugging C++ STL containers in Windbg

Windbg fans claim that it is quite powerful and I tend to agree. But when it comes to debugging STL containers, I am always stuck. If the variable is on the stack, the !stl extension sometimes figures it out, but when a container with a complex type (e.g. std::vector<TemplateField, std::allocator<TemplateField> >) is on the heap or part ...

Windbg: How to set breakpoint on one of the overloads of a C++ function?

I have two overloads of a c++ function and I would like to set a breakpoint on one of them: 0:000> bu myexe!displayerror Matched: 00000000`ff3c6100 myexe!displayError (int, HRESULT, wchar_t *) Matched: 00000000`ff3c60d0 myexe!displayError (int, HRESULT) Ambiguous symbol error at 'myexe!displayerror' Heck I would be fine with setting b...

With WinDbg, can I modify an item in memory while a process is running?

Can I, using an address found in a map file, use windbg to alter a variable in memory while the app is running? I'm really interested in turning on/off functionality in run-time maybe with a variable. How would you do this? Does it require breaking the app through the debugger? ...

WinDbg outputs characters to console nonstop

Hi all! I'm developing a POS application that is used in about 200 locations as of right now using .Net 2.0, WCF and SyncFusion components for the GUI. Two days ago we installed the application in a new location, and it has been suffering sudden termination of the application. The application has a running log of events and exceptio...

How do I debug a memory dump of a spiking ASP.NET process?

Sorry, I couldn't figure out a good way to phrase my real question. I run a high-traffic ASP.NET site on a 64-bit machine. I have IIS running in 32-bit mode, however, due to some legacy components of the app. I am running this particular web app inside an application pool that has the web garden option on (running 6 processes inside a...

Which Visual Studio debugger features are missing from WinDbg?

Are there any? ...

How can I abort a long operation in WinDbg?

Often WinDbg will enter a state where it is *Busy* performing an operation. Often this is due to some mistake I made trying to *dt some_variable_itll_never_find* or setting a break point somewhere without symbols or the 1000's of other mistakes I make fumbling around this tool. Is there a way to cancel the current operation? ...