Windows Kernel Debugging by using serial port

1. Setup two machines: target machine and debugging machie

2. Download windbg at the debugging machine
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463009
for window XP you need to download the Windows 7 version

3. Change the boot.ini file in taget machine to recognize com1 serial port.

4. Boot target machine into debugging mode ( press F8 when booting)

5. Start windbg at the debugging machine, and choose the correct device.
e.g. Serial port to USB

6. Set the the correct symbol table path.
e.g. srv*c\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

7. run dt _eprocess

How to change boot.ini
http://www.etdot.com/2008/04/16/windbg-and-vmware/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

You also can get more information from: Windows Internals book 5 Edition

Another book： Advanced Windows Debugging

Serial port to USB on Mac

This link provides the detailed the solution.

http://www.planet-rcs.de/article/mac_serial_port/

Note:
1. make sure you are using PL-2303 cable
2. In addition to the software mentioned in the link, you could use minicom. It has the same function in Linux.

User MATLAB to setup the serial port

s=serial('COM8');
set(s,'BaudRate',9600);
fopen(s);

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.soft-sys.matlab/2008-10/msg05119.html

Serial Port Programming on Windows

Here is a sample code of serial port programming on Windows:
it compile and run at Dev C++, but you need to change CreateFile to CreateFileA on VC++ 2010 express

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <commdlg.h>
#include <windef.h>

int nread,nwrite;

int main()
{
HANDLE hSerial;
COMMTIMEOUTS timeouts;
COMMCONFIG dcbSerialParams;
char *words, *buffRead, *buffWrite;
DWORD dwBytesWritten, dwBytesRead;
   
hSerial = CreateFile("COM1",
    GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
    0,
    NULL,
    OPEN_EXISTING,
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
    NULL);

if ( hSerial == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
   if (GetLastError() == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)
   {
      printf(" serial port does not exist \n");
   }
   printf(" some other error occured. Inform user.\n");
}

//DCB dcbSerialParams ;
//GetCommState( hSerial, &dcbSerialParams.dcb);
if (!GetCommState(hSerial, &dcbSerialParams.dcb))
{
printf("error getting state \n");
}

dcbSerialParams.dcb.DCBlength = sizeof(dcbSerialParams.dcb);

dcbSerialParams.dcb.BaudRate = CBR_38400;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.ByteSize = 8;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.StopBits = TWOSTOPBITS;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.Parity = NOPARITY;

dcbSerialParams.dcb.fBinary = TRUE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fDtrControl = DTR_CONTROL_DISABLE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fRtsControl = RTS_CONTROL_DISABLE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fOutxCtsFlow = FALSE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fOutxDsrFlow = FALSE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fDsrSensitivity= FALSE;
dcbSerialParams.dcb.fAbortOnError = TRUE;

if (!SetCommState(hSerial, &dcbSerialParams.dcb))
{
printf(" error setting serial port state \n");
}

GetCommTimeouts(hSerial,&timeouts);
//COMMTIMEOUTS timeouts = {0};

timeouts.ReadIntervalTimeout = 50;
timeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutConstant = 50;
timeouts.ReadTotalTimeoutMultiplier = 10;
timeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutConstant = 50;
timeouts.WriteTotalTimeoutMultiplier= 10;

if(!SetCommTimeouts(hSerial, &timeouts))
{
printf("error setting port state \n");
}

//****************Write Operation*********************//
words = "This is a string to be written to serial port COM1";
nwrite = strlen(words);

buffWrite = words;
dwBytesWritten = 0;

if (!WriteFile(hSerial, buffWrite, nwrite, &dwBytesWritten, NULL))
{
printf("error writing to output buffer \n");
}
//printf("Data written to write buffer is \n %s \n",buffWrite);

//***************Read Operation******************//
/*
buffRead = 0;
dwBytesRead = 0;
nread = strlen(words);

if (!ReadFile(hSerial, buffRead, nread, &dwBytesRead, NULL))
{
printf("error reading from input buffer \n");
}
printf("Data read from read buffer is \n %s \n",buffRead);
*/

CloseHandle(hSerial);
system("pause");
return 1;
}

CreateFile vs CreateFileW , CreateFileA

This is the simple explaination:
CreateFileW (Unicode) and CreateFileA (ANSI)
both of them defined by CreateFile

If you want to understand CreateFile, go to msdn page(man page of win API):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363858%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Here is the link talk about the difference:
http://www.osronline.com/showThread.cfm?link=20658

Note: if you compile following code on Visual studio 2010 Express may have errors, just change CreateFile() to CreateFileA()

hSerial = CreateFile("COM1",
    GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE,
    0,
    NULL,
    OPEN_EXISTING,
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,

    NULL);

serial port

Get which serial port device is active

$ dmesg | grep tty

Get the bard rate of serial port device sttyS0

$stty -F /dev/sttyS0

Put some data in serial port

$echo hello > /dev/sttyS0

receive data from serial port of other machine (if use USB to receive)

$cat /dev/ttyUSB0

usually, you will see binary data from terminal. You could use minicom to receive data
Install minicom

$sudo apt-get install minicom

Start minicom and save output

$minicom -C output

If you didn't set up the serial port, you need set up first, run

$minicom -s

Setup the device and baud rate. you could run following cmd to see the device

$ls /dev/tty*

I assume you use USB, the you could see /dev/ttyUSB0. set the device to /dev/USB0 in the minicom. and You need to set the bard rate. Usually, it is 9600, some times it would be 115200(like coreboot set the serial port rate)

Finally, you will see data from terminal, you could also save the output.