How to Enable Debug Message Output During Setup (139340)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
This article was previously published under Q139340

SUMMARY

During Setup, it is possible to display debug information. This is controlled by changing the value of the DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL variable located in either the INITIAL.INF or SETUP.INF file (depending on the type of Setup used).

MORE INFORMATION

You can determine whether or not debug information is displayed by changing the value of the variable, DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL. If this variable is set to 1, debug messages are displayed; if it is set to 0, debug messages are suppressed. There are two ways to set or clear DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL.

GUI-MODE SETUP

GUI-mode Setup is controlled by INITIAL.INF, which contains a [DebugVars] section. The variable, STF_DISPLAYDEBUGOUTPUT, is defined by the following:

[DebugVars]
STF_DISPLAYDEBUGCONTROL = 0


To display debug output, change the 0 to 1. This causes debug messages to be displayed because in the shell section of INITIAL.INF, the value of STF_DISPLAYDEBUGCONTROL is assigned to DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL as follows:

read-syms DebugVars
set !DebugOutputControl = $(!STF_DISPLAYDEBUGOUTPUT)

MAINTENANCE-MODE SETUP

An acceptable and more direct method is to set DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL directly. SETUP.INF contains a statement which sets the value of DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL. To display debug information, change the 0 to 1, as shown in the example below:

set !G:DebugOutputControl = 0


In maintenance Setup mode, this is the only available method because SETUP.INF controls maintenance-mode Setup (INITIAL.INF is not used) and SETUP.INF does not have a [DebugVars] section.

NOTE: The use of the "G" prefix sets the value of DEBUGOUTPUTCONTROL in tth global symbol table in case SETUP.INF is not the top level .INF file.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/4/2003
Keywords:KB139340
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.