What is DebugView?

DebugView is a Windows application that lets you monitor debug output on your local system, or any computer on the network that you can reach via TCP/IP. It is capable of displaying both kernel-mode and Win32 debug output generated by standard debug print APIs. With it you can debug other Windows applications or drivers without a Debugger. One of the harder classes of bugs to find are those which occur in release code but not debug.

How does it work?

It intercepts calls made to DbgPrint by device drivers and OutputDebugString made by Win32 programs. Besides log messages you can also see how much time it takes to move from one debug output to another. If you have lengthy output then you can also use the find functionality to search for specific log messages. Depending on what other processes are emitting debug info, you might want to apply filters and/or highlighting to the list to avoid being overwhelmed. Simply click Filter/Highlight on the Edit menu to apply filters and highlighting.

How do you use it?

  1. Double-click the program (or right-click and ‘run as administrator’).  Select ‘Yes’ to the User Account Control prompt if shown.
  2. From the ‘Capture’ menu ensure that the “Capture Win32” and “Capture Global Win32” are both selected.
  3. Prepare to recreate the issue.  This may involve restarting an application or service, or by enabling other options such as registry keys, depending on the software you are testing.
  4. Recreate the issue.  This may involve specific instructions on what to do during the capture that you have received from the developer.
  5. As soon as the issue/event has occurred stop the capture by pressing the capture button. 
  6. Save the capture to a log file.Image 005-2014-06-06

 

 

Similar Posts from the author: