Things to consider before you enable Driver Verifier Manager on production servers (251233)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q251233

SUMMARY

Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 include Driver Verifier Manager. This is a tool that you can use to troubleshoot new drivers. The tool stresses one or more binaries in an attempt to make them not work. If a binary is not written properly and Driver Verifier finds a problem, an error message is displayed on a blue screen.

MORE INFORMATION

Driver Verifier is designed for use in conjunction with the Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 Device Driver Kit (DDK) to allow you to simulate certain conditions (for example, low memory conditions, I/O verification, pool tracking, and so on) on drivers you have written. You should use Driver Verifier to help test new kernel mode drivers in a test environment, but in some situations you may need to run the tool on a production server. When you use this tool on a production server and a problem is identified, an error message on a blue screen is displayed.

The following list shows things to consider before you enable Driver Verifier Manager. Be sure to evaluate the information and include other contingencies that are unique to your environment. If you suspect a driver is causing a problem, Microsoft recommends that you stress the computer in a test environment.
  • Review the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

    235496 How to enable a Memory.dmp file capture using the graphical user interface or the registry

    148954 How to set up a remote debug session using a modem

    216206 Blue screen or STOP error message troubleshooting before you call Microsoft Support

  • Create an Emergency Backup Disk (EBD) and a full backup of the server.
  • Create a contingency plan for production servers for extended down time.
  • Notify users when you test the production server. You may want to tell them to save their data locally and frequently, and that performance may be slower.
  • Do not verify all the drivers on the computer at the same time. Only test drivers that you suspect.
  • When you run Driver Verifier wait at least 30 minutes to log on to the computer, especially if you are troubleshooting domain or network issues. After the user presses CTRL+ALT+DELETE, the recovery process used in LastKnownGood is updated with all of the registry settings, and you are then unable to utilize LastKnownGood as a recovery process to back out of Driver Verifier settings.
  • If you need to contact Microsoft Product Support Services, advise the Support Professional that you are running Driver Verifier in your environment and also advise the Support Profession of any relevant case numbers.
  • Force domain replications on domain controllers prior to starting, and then perform a backup, which includes system state.
  • Install the Recovery console by using the steps described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    301454 How to perform a system state backup with Windows 2000

216417 How to install the Windows 2000 Recovery Console

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

229902 Driver Verifier always performs certain Kernel-mode driver tests in Windows 2000

229903 Partial list of possible error codes with Driver Verifier

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/23/2004
Keywords:kbinfo KB251233
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