The Debugging Tools for Windows package contains four debuggers:

• WinDbg

  A graphical debugger for debugging both user-mode and kernel-mode code.

• KD

  A console program for debugging kernel-mode drivers.

• CDB

  A console program for debugging user-mode applications and drivers.

• NTSD

  A variation of CDB. A copy of this program is also located in the system32 directory of Windows.

The debuggers in the Debugging Tools for Windows package can run on all NT-based operating systems. They can debug any applications, services, or drivers that run on these operating systems. They do not support Windows 95/98/Me.

The Debugging Tools for Windows package includes documentation on WinDbg, KD, CDB, and NTSD, along with tips on how to debug various kinds of drivers and applications, how to create and analyze a crash dump file, how to run a remote debugging session, and how to use debugger extension commands. This package also includes several additional debugging tools and support tools.

Which debugger you use depends on the type of driver you're debugging and the target operating system. WinDbg and KD are most commonly used to debug drivers on NT-based operating systems.

In addition, the Microsoft Visual Studio debugger can be used to debug user-mode programs on all Windows operating systems. See the Visual Studio documentation for details on this debugger.

Installing the Debuggers

You can download the latest version of the Debugging Tools for Windows package from the Debugging Tools Web site. This package is often updated, and includes the latest debuggers, debugger extensions, and documentation.

After the installation is complete, the debugger shortcuts can be found in Start | Programs | Debugging Tools for Windows.