DebugView is an 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, so you don't need a debugger to catch the debug output your
applications or device drivers generate, nor do you need to modify your
applications or drivers to use non-standard debug output APIs.
DebugView Capture
Under Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista DebugView will capture:
Win32 OutputDebugString
Kernel-mode DbgPrint
All kernel-mode variants of DbgPrint implemented in Windows XP
and Server 2003
DebugView also extracts kernel-mode debug output generated before a
crash from Window's 2000/XP crash dump files if DebugView was
capturing at the time of the crash.
DebugView Capabilities
DebugView has a powerful array of features for controlling and
managing debug output.
Features new to version 4.6:
Support for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit
Features new to version 4.5:
Support for log-file rollover: To better support long-running
captures, DebugView can now create a new log file each day,
optionally clearing the display when doing so.
Features new to version 4.4:
Support for Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition and Windows XP
64-bit Edition for x64:DebugView now captures kernel-mode debug
output on 64-bit versions of Windows.
Clock-time toggle: you can now toggle between clock time and
elapsed time modes.
Features new to version 4.3:
Support for Windows XP SP2:DebugView now captures kernel-mode
debug output on Windows XP SP2.
More highlighting filters: Many people have asked for more
highlighting filters.
Log file wrapping: A new log file option has DebugView wrap
around to the start of the log file when the specified size limit is
reached.
Larger buffers: Larger Win32 and kernel-mode buffers lessen the
chance of dropped debug output.
Clear-output string: When DebugView sees the special debug
output string "DBGVIEWCLEAR" it clears the output.
Client minimize-to-tray: You can now run the client minimized in
the tray.
Features new to version 4.2:
Kernel-hook bug fixed:DebugView sometimes mistakenly report
that it couldn't hook kernel-mode debug output on Windows XP and
Server 2003.
Client global-capture option: A new option allows the client to
capture console Win32 debug output on Terminal Server systems when
run from a non-console session.
Filtering improved: Filters can be much longer and now apply to
Win32 process IDs when process IDs are included in the output.
Crash-dump support improved: Several bugs related to extracting
kernel-mode output from crash dumps are fixed and DebugView now
loads resulting log files.
More highlight filters:DebugView now has 10 highlight filters,
up from 5.
Insert comments: A new menu item lets you insert comments into
output.
New switches: New command-line switches allow you to specify
history depth and load log files.
Better balloon tips: If an output line is wider than the screen
its mouse hover balloon tip word wraps.
Features new to version 4.1:
Save and load filters: You can save and load filters, including
the highlighting colors.
Load saved logs: You can now load a log file back into the
DebugView output window.
Capture boot-time kernel-mode debug output: Under Windows 2000,
you can use DebugView to capture debug output generated by drivers
from the earliest point in the boot process.
Here is a list highlighting some of DebugView's other features:
Remote monitoring: Capture kernel-mode and/or Win32 debug output
from any computer accessible via TCP/IP - even across the Internet.
You can monitor multiple remote computers simultaneously.
DebugView will even install its client software itself if you are
running it on a Windows 2000 system and are capturing from another
Windows 2000 system in the same Network Neighborhood.
Most-recent-filter lists:DebugView remembers your most recent
filter selections, with an interface that makes it easy to reselect
them.
Process ID option: Toggle the display of process IDs for Win32
debug output.
Clipboard copy: Select multiple lines in the output window and
copy their contents to the clipboard.
Log-to-file: Write debug output to a file as its being captured.
Printing: Print all or part of captured debug output to a
printer.
One-file payload:DebugView is implemented as one file.
Crash-Dump Support:DebugView can recover its buffers from a
crash dump and save the output to a log file so that users can send
you the output your Windows driver generated right up to the time of
a crash.
The on-line help file describes all these features, and more, in
detail.
Installation and Use
Simply execute the DebugView program file (dbgview.exe) and
DebugView will immediately start capturing debug output. Note that if
you run DebugView on Windows 2000/XP you must have administrative
privilege to view kernel-mode debug output. Menus, hot-keys, or toolbar
buttons can be used to clear the window, save the monitored data to a
file, search output, change the window font, and more. The on-line help
describes all of DebugView's features.
This is a screenshot of DebugView capturing Win32 debug output from a
remote system. Note the presence of a highlighting filter.
Learn how to efficiently debug your .NET app by using Visual Studio to fix your bugs quickly. Use the interactive debugger within Visual Studio to analyze and fix your C# applications.