Device Path Exerciser (Devpathexer.exe) is a tool that tests the reliability and security of drivers. It calls drivers through a variety of user-mode I/O interfaces with valid, invalid, meaningless, and poorly-formatted buffers and data that will crash the driver if not managed correctly. These tests can reveal improper driver design or implementation that might result in system crashes or make the system vulnerable to malicious attacks.

Device Path Exerciser is a component of the Microsoft Windows Driver Kit and the Windows Logo Kit (WLK). The WLK includes the tests that are required to participate in the Windows Logo Program for Hardware. (For more information, see the Windows Logo Program for Hardware Web site.) Device Path Exerciser is included in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) so that you can run it during driver development and internal testing to assess the quality of a driver.

The Device Path Exerciser (Devpathexer.exe) is an improved version of the Device Path Exerciser (dc2.exe and devctl.exe) that was included in previous versions of the Driver Development Kit (DDK). This version includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and new logs that make the tool easier to use and the output easier to interpret.

This version of Device Path Exerciser also includes Active Control Test, a customized test based on the control codes that the driver actually uses, resulting in a more thorough and realistic test of its error code paths.

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