Purpose

This edition of the Debugging Tools for Windows documentation describes four Microsoft debuggers: WinDbg, KD, CDB, and NTSD. It also describes additional debugging tools, as well as various debugging techniques.

WinDbg, KD, CDB, and NTSD Debuggers

These Microsoft debuggers are fully capable of running on computers with x86-based, Itanium, or x64-based processors. The debuggers can debug the Windows operating system, applications, services, and drivers that run on the operating system. The following operating systems are supported:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000

The CDB and NTSD debuggers are virtually identical. In this documentation set, references to "CDB" refer to both CDB and NTSD. Any differences between the two debuggers are stated explicitly. For more information, see CDB and NTSD.

A copy of NTSD resides in the System32 directory of Windows prior to Windows Vista. This documentation describes the version of NTSD in the Debugging Tools for Windows package—it might not match the version of NTSD in the System32 directory.

32-Bit and 64-Bit Packages

There are three versions of the debugger package: a 32-bit version for x86-based and x64-based binaries, a 64-bit version for Itanium-based binaries, and a 64-bit version for x64-based binaries. Since debugging typically involves multiple applications, or multiple operating systems, selecting a debugger package is not as straightforward as it is with other applications. For more information, see Choosing a 32-bit or 64-bit Debugger Package.

Other Tools in Debugging Tools for Windows

For a full list of the tools and where they are documented, see List of Tools and Documentation.