Utility driver Verifier included with all versions of Windows, starting with Windows XP, and allows you to perform a driver check, identify problematic drivers that cause blue screen of death (BSOD- Blue Screen of Death) and record detailed information about the problematic driver in a memory dump for further analysis. The utility exposes the tested drivers to various " stress tests”, simulating various extreme conditions: lack of memory, I / O control, IRQL, deadlocks, DMA checks, IRP, etc. I.e. situations that occur infrequently on productive systems are simulated, and the behavior of the driver in them is monitored. The purpose of the utility is to identify situations in which the driver can lead to a system crash with a BSOD.
The executable file of the Driver Verifier utility is called verifier.exe and is located in the %windir%\system32 directory. There are two options for using the utility: from the command line or using GUI.
To enable driver check mode in Windows 8, run Driver utility Verifier by typing
Verifier
From the task list, select Create custom settings (for code developers) and press Next.
Make sure options are selected standard settings, Force pending I/O requests And IRP Logging. Click Next.
Next select .
Sort the contents of the table by clicking on the Provider column heading and select the drivers you want to test from the list of drivers. In our example, we will run a check for all drivers that are not the developer of MicrosoftCorporation. We chose drivers: e1g6032e.sys (Intel) and lsi_sas.sys (LSI).
Note. The presence of the driver digital signature Microsoft testifies that the driver has been tested in a certain way for stability and its code has not been modified since then. That is why it is not recommended or to use.
It remains to press Finish and an information window will appear stating that you need to reboot the system for the changes to take effect.
Advice. The verification mode for the driver can also be enabled from the command line. For example, to run Driver Verifier with default settings for the driver myPCDriver.sys, the command will look like this:
Verifier /standard /driver myPCDriver.sys
After a reboot, the system boots into driver checking mode. Driver Verifier works in background, performing different kinds testing selected drivers for errors. Use your computer as usual and wait for the BSOD to appear. If you know what actions caused the system to crash before, repeat them. In the event of a BSOD, you must copy the memory dump file (by default, stored in the C:\Windows\Minidump\*.dmp directory) or equivalent.
Important! After activating the driver debug mode using Driver Verifier, this mode will work until it is forcibly disabled.
In the event that the problem does not recur within 1-2 days, then with a certain degree of certainty it can be concluded that the drivers being checked are not the cause of the system crash and the check mode for them can be turned off.
Advice. Using the Windows Driver Verifier significantly slows down Windows work, so it is not recommended to constantly work in this mode.
You can disable the Driver Verifier check from the command line:
Verifier /reset
Or from the GUI by selecting the item Delete existing settings.
In the event that you cannot log in to the system in normal mode, you can also disable debug mode from safe mode.
In the event that and safe mode system won't boot, try uninstalling following keys in the registry in , booting from the boot disk:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel
You can check the current status of the Driver Verifier utility as follows.
For such cases, to check how correctly the drivers work in Windows XP, there is special utility verifier.exe. Utility driver Verifier, creates the most severe conditions for drivers, in which the probability of failure is very high, and the name of the failed driver is determined with the highest accuracy. Therefore, in case of non-systematic failures, it is useful to run the utility driver verifier.exe. There is no need to download Verifier, since the utility is included with Windows and is located in the directory Windows\system32
1 Working with verifier.exe
1.1. Let's run verifier.exe.Start - Run - Verifier.exe:
1.3. Utility driver verifier.exe will ask for a reboot:
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1.4. Two new parameters will appear in the registry:
-- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
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| Registry settings related to driver verifier.exe |
2 Test results
2.1. If in the first window of the utility driver verifier.exe choose "Display information about currently tested drivers", then a window like this will appear. It shows which drivers are checked and which are not. pressing "Further", you can see other information about the tested drivers:
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2.2. As a result of checking the drivers with the utility driver verifier.exe it is possible for the system to crash in . When an error occurs while checking the drivers, the appearance of system errors And . Typical codes and error codes are shown below.
0xC1: SPECIAL_POOL_DETECTED_MEMORY_CORRUPTION
0xC4: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION
0xC6: DRIVER_CAUGHT_MODIFYING_FREED_POOL
0xC9: DRIVER_VERIFIER_IOMANAGER_VIOLATION
0xD6: DRIVER_PAGE_FAULT_BEYOND_END_OF_ALLOCATION
0xE6: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION
2.3. Examples of dump decryption by the program :
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3. Useful links
Using the supplied Windows Vista/7 system utility Driver Verifier Manager, you can conduct a comprehensive diagnosis of the drivers installed in the system and find problematic components that disrupt the stable operation of the computer and equipment connected to it.
To run the mentioned tool, you need to log in to Windows with administrator rights, then in the address bar of the Start -> Run menu, enter the command verifier.exe and click OK. As a result, a driver check manager window will open, in which you will need to scratch your head and decide on the appropriate option to launch the utility. You can perform both selective and full testing of all drivers without exception.
After setting the program operation mode and pressing the “Finish” button, you will need to restart the computer and wait for the operating system to load. If a bad driver is found, Windows will fall into the so-called “ blue screen death” (BSOD – Blue Screen Of Death) and will report on critical error, containing information about the problematic component, which must be taken on a pencil without fail.
The next step is to remove the defective driver files. To do this, hold down the F8 key when starting the computer, start the system in safe mode (Safe Mode) and then standard Windows tools remove the failed component. Then you will need to open the console again and enter the instruction verifier.exe /reset to deactivate the Driver Verifier Manager application. It is important to note that entering the last command is also required if the computer boots successfully, indicating that there are no problematic drivers.
Additional reference information on this issue See "Using the Driver Verifier to Diagnose Problems with Windows Drivers (Advanced Users)" on the Microsoft Support site.
A driver is a program that is necessary for the operating system and various software applications to interact with hardware devices connected to it. Hardware components such as sound, video cards, printers, scanners and they all need a compatible driver to work properly.
All device drivers are designed for specific operating systems. For example, Windows XP drivers will differ from Windows Vista drivers. Therefore, it is necessary to take extra precautions when installing and updating device drivers, as installing incorrect or incompatible drivers can not only damage your device, but also your system.
Common Causes of Driver Errors
Some common causes of driver errors are listed below:
- Are you trying to use hardware device not properly connected to the computer.
- Two or more drivers on the system are incompatible with each other.
- The driver or drivers installed are not compatible with your system.
- There are unnecessary or outdated drivers on the PC.
Steps to Fix Driver Errors
The first step in fixing a driver error is to make sure the device is properly connected to your system. Many devices give connection related errors, so make sure your device is connected to your system properly. Next, you need to make sure there are no driver issues. You can do this using the Device Manager utility that comes with your computer. Windows system. You can open Device Manager by directly running devmgmt. msc
from the command lineStart>Completedit.
When you open Device Manager, you will see a list of all devices connected to your system. You can easily identify the defective file because it will be marked yellow triangle With exclamation mark inside. Click right click mouse on the device to open its properties dialog. In the properties dialog box, check the section Device Status tab Are common. Drivers are displayed on the Drivers tab of the properties window. Here, perform one of the following tasks:
- Check and Install Driver Updates: Outdated Drivers one of the main causes is related to driver errors. To solve this problem, click the button Update Driver.The Hardware Update Wizard opens. You can use the wizard to update the driver. It is recommended that you first download the driver update and save it to a convenient location on your hard drive, and then start the update process because the update wizard will ask you to specify a location to install the update.
- Driver rollback: If you started getting an error shortly after installing a new update, then it's likely that the new update is buggy. To fix this problem, click the button Driver rollback to return to your previous version drivers.
- Driver uninstallation: If there are problems with your current drivers - missing or corrupted files - then the best thing you can do is click Delete to uninstall the current driver, and then reinstall the driver again.
In case you are not sure what you are doing and if you find the above fixes a bit complicated, then it is recommended that you choose a reliable driver scan tool. Driver scanning tools are designed to check all device drivers and make sure they are not up-to-date. Whenever new updates are available, the driver scanner automatically downloads and installs best updates to your computer.
The utility that we will describe today is called Driver Verifier and is included in all operating systems, including Windows XP. This program allows you to check and identify problematic ones that can greatly harm the system. The most famous problem is the blue screen of death.
Data about such drivers is recorded in a memory dump so that later analyzes can be performed. So, the utility exposes the drivers to the so-called stressful situations (tests), creating visual extreme conditions, for example, lack of memory, various locks, IRQL, IRP checks, DMA, etc., I / O - control. In other words, there is an imitation of such extreme situations that, during normal work with Windows, should not be, or they do not happen often. Thus, the utility allows you to identify such drivers that can lead to an emergency shutdown of the system.
As I said, the utility is built into everything Windows versions and is on the way %windir%\system32. Also, the utility can be used in two versions: command line and graphical interface.
So, in order to run the utility for checking drivers, it is necessary in the window "Run" type the following command:
| verifier |
A window opens with the necessary settings, in which we select the second item - "Create custom options" or "Create custom settings".
Now we need to sort the content, for this, at the top of the table, click on the word Provider. Now you can select all drivers. By the way, drivers from Microsoft can not be selected.
Now you can press the button Finish, then you will be asked to reboot the system.
So, the reboot has passed, now the system will boot in the driver check mode. The utility will run in the background, conducting various tests. You can safely work at the computer until the end of the utility. After work, information file saved in the memory dump. Such a file is usually located along the path: C:\Windows\Minidump\*.dmp. Now it can be analyzed, for example, using Windbg, or another similar program.
If within a few days it turned out that the problem did not recur, then we can say that the matter is not at all in the drivers and you will have to look for the cause elsewhere. In the meantime, we can already turn off the driver check mode. I want to say right away that this mode greatly slows down the system, therefore, it is not recommended to work with it often.
You can disable the utility like this: command line enter the following command:
That's all. I hope this article has helped you solve your problems.
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