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How to Configure Visual Studio 2008 for Compiling Drivers

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18 Dec 2008CPOL2 min read 115.2K   55   22
How to configure Visual Studio 2008 for compiling drivers without using DDK's console tools.

Introduction 

As it is known, Microsoft officially doesn't support integration of DDK with Visual Studio (any version). So we can use the Visual Studio editor (or any other text editor) for developing the source codes of a driver, but for compiling we should use the DDK build utility. Of course it is not very convenient because we must always switch between editor and console window, but the worst thing is that the developer must spend a lot of time to find lines with errors in the editor.

Background 

There are several ways to compile drivers with Visual Studio. You can find most of them in the nice Mark Roddy article, Windows Driver Build Methods and Tools.

Mark offers some third party utilities. That's good, but I will show a more handy way (IMHO): how to configure and use Visual Studio for compiling drivers. 

Have Fun

  1. Setup Visual Studio 2008.

  2. Setup DDK (WDK).

  3. Add to VS paths DDK include files, libs and bins.

  4. Create new empty "Win32 project" and add source file (i.e. HelloWorld.c).

  5. Configure project properties (All Configurations):

    1. C\C++ - General - Debug Information Format = Program Database (/Zi)
    2. C\C++ - Preprocessor - Preprocessor Definitions = _X86_ [add also DBG for Debug config]
    3. C\C++ - Code Generation - Enable C++ Exceptions = No
    4. C\C++ - Code Generation - Basic Runtime Checks = Default
    5. C\C++ - Code Generation - Buffer Security Check = No (/GS-)
    6. C\C++ - Advanced - Calling Convention = __stdcall (/Gz)
    7. C\C++ - Advanced - Compile As = Compile as C Code (/TC) [if you are going to use plain C]
    8. Linker - General - Output File = $(OutDir)\$(ProjectName).sys
    9. Linker - General - Enable Incremental Linking = Default
    10. Linker - Input - Additional Dependencies = ntoskrnl.lib hal.lib $(NOINHERIT) [add needed libs here e.g. ntoskrnl.lib hal.lib]
    11. Linker - Input - Ignore All Default Libraries = Yes (/NODEFAULTLIB)
    12. Linker - Manifest File - Generate Manifest = No
    13. Linker - System - SubSystem = Native (/SUBSYSTEM:NATIVE)
    14. Linker - System - Driver = Driver (/DRIVER)
    15. Linker - Advanced - Entry Point = DriverEntry
    16. Linker - Advanced - Base Address = 0x10000
    17. Linker - Advanced - Randomized Base Address = Disable (/DYNAMICBASE:NO)
    18. Linker - Advanced - Data Execution Prevention (DEP) = Disable (/NXCOMPAT:NO)
  6. OK. Done. Now you can test it with simple code, e.g.:

    C++
    #include "ntddk.h"
    
    NTSTATUS
    DriverEntry(PDRIVER_OBJECT DriverObject,PUNICODE_STRING
    RegistryPath)
    {
    return STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL;
    }

Points of Interest 

Visual Studio + DDK - it's cool! :) 

History 

  • 18th December, 2008: First post 

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
President anseko
Ukraine Ukraine
Born 7 Apr 1980 in Bulgan (Mongolia).
2004 - Master of Computer Sciences, Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics.
Now live in Poltava (Ukraine).

Comments and Discussions

 
Bug[My vote of 1] My Vote of 1 Pin
Member 963207716-Jul-13 9:13
Member 963207716-Jul-13 9:13 
GeneralRe: [My vote of 1] My Vote of 1 Pin
Member 102420899-Oct-13 5:43
Member 102420899-Oct-13 5:43 
GeneralRe: [My vote of 1] My Vote of 1 Pin
SOlli9-Jul-17 0:40
SOlli9-Jul-17 0:40 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
gndnet22-Oct-12 1:20
gndnet22-Oct-12 1:20 
Question5 Pin
kostay_scr16-Aug-12 4:17
kostay_scr16-Aug-12 4:17 
QuestionDDKWizard vs. VisualDDK Pin
Will217-May-12 6:47
Will217-May-12 6:47 
AnswerRe: DDKWizard vs. VisualDDK Pin
SOlli9-Jul-17 0:38
SOlli9-Jul-17 0:38 
GeneralRe: DDKWizard vs. VisualDDK Pin
SOlli20-Sep-18 11:19
SOlli20-Sep-18 11:19 
GeneralOr you use DDKWizard? ... Pin
SOlli26-Feb-09 12:35
SOlli26-Feb-09 12:35 
GeneralRe: Or you use DDKWizard? ... Pin
Andrey Sergienko14-Mar-10 3:57
Andrey Sergienko14-Mar-10 3:57 
GeneralBe carefully Pin
alexd77776-Jan-09 3:09
alexd77776-Jan-09 3:09 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
Bruce@Taiwan23-Dec-08 3:31
Bruce@Taiwan23-Dec-08 3:31 
GeneralRe: My vote of 1 Pin
Andrey Sergienko14-Mar-10 3:56
Andrey Sergienko14-Mar-10 3:56 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
Jack Knife23-Dec-08 1:02
Jack Knife23-Dec-08 1:02 
GeneralRe: My vote of 1 Pin
bodewig24-Mar-10 3:10
bodewig24-Mar-10 3:10 
GeneralHi Pin
Andrey Sergienko18-Dec-08 21:55
Andrey Sergienko18-Dec-08 21:55 
GeneralDelete this !, this is a 1 Pin
_elli_18-Dec-08 20:09
_elli_18-Dec-08 20:09 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
_elli_18-Dec-08 20:03
_elli_18-Dec-08 20:03 
GeneralMy vote of 2 Pin
Joshua Tully18-Dec-08 14:58
Joshua Tully18-Dec-08 14:58 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
poltrone18-Dec-08 7:16
poltrone18-Dec-08 7:16 
It's just stupid to compile drivers with VS!
GeneralRe: My vote of 1 Pin
yafan18-Dec-08 7:23
yafan18-Dec-08 7:23 
QuestionMakefile project? Pin
567890123418-Dec-08 3:24
567890123418-Dec-08 3:24 

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