Book description
See how the core components of the Windows operating system work
behind the scenes—guided by a team of internationally
renowned internals experts. Fully updated for Windows Server(R)
2008 and Windows Vista(R), this classic guide delivers key
architectural insights on system design, debugging, performance,
and support—along with hands-on experiments to experience
Windows internal behavior firsthand.
Delve inside Windows architecture and internals:
Understand how the core system and management mechanisms work—from the object manager to services to the registry
Explore internal system data structures using tools like the kernel debugger
Grasp the scheduler's priority and CPU placement algorithms
Go inside the Windows security model to see how it authorizes access to data
Understand how Windows manages physical and virtual memory
Tour the Windows networking stack from top to bottom—including APIs, protocol drivers, and network adapter drivers
Troubleshoot file-system access problems and system boot problems
Learn how to analyze crashes
Table of contents
- Windows Internals, Fifth Edition
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Concepts and Tools
- 2. System Architecture
-
3. System Mechanisms
- Trap Dispatching
- Object Manager
- Synchronization
- System Worker Threads
- Windows Global Flags
- Advanced Local Procedure Calls (ALPCs)
- Kernel Event Tracing
- Wow64
- User-Mode Debugging
- Image Loader
- Hypervisor (Hyper-V)
- Kernel Transaction Manager
- Hotpatch Support
- Kernel Patch Protection
- Code Integrity
- Conclusion
-
4. Management Mechanisms
- The Registry
- Services
- Windows Management Instrumentation
- Windows Diagnostic Infrastructure
- Conclusion
-
5. Processes, Threads, and Jobs
- Process Internals
- Protected Processes
-
Flow of CreateProcess
- Stage 1: Converting and Validating Parameters and Flags
- Stage 2: Opening the Image to Be Executed
-
Stage 3: Creating the Windows Executive Process Object (PspAllocateProcess)
- Stage 3A: Setting Up the EPROCESS Block
- Stage 3B: Creating the Initial Process Address Space
- Stage 3C: Creating the Kernel Process Block
- Stage 3D: Concluding the Setup of the Process Address Space
- Stage 3E: Setting Up the PEB
- Stage 3F: Completing the Setup of the Executive Process Object (PspInsertProcess)
- Stage 4: Creating the Initial Thread and Its Stack and Context
- Stage 5: Performing Windows Subsystem–Specific Post-Initialization
- Stage 6: Starting Execution of the Initial Thread
- Stage 7: Performing Process Initialization in the Context of the New Process
- Thread Internals
- Examining Thread Activity
- Worker Factories (Thread Pools)
-
Thread Scheduling
- Overview of Windows Scheduling
- Priority Levels
- Windows Scheduling APIs
- Relevant Tools
- Real-Time Priorities
- Thread States
- Dispatcher Database
- Quantum
- Scheduling Scenarios
- Context Switching
- Idle Thread
-
Priority Boosts
- Priority Boosting after I/O Completion
- Boosts After Waiting for Events and Semaphores
- Boosts During Waiting on Executive Resources
- Priority Boosts for Foreground Threads After Waits
- Priority Boosts After GUI Threads Wake Up
- Priority Boosts for CPU Starvation
- Priority Boosts for MultiMedia Applications and Games (MMCSS)
- Multiprocessor Systems
- Multiprocessor Thread-Scheduling Algorithms
- CPU Rate Limits
- Job Objects
- Conclusion
- 6. Security
-
7. I/O System
- I/O System Components
- Device Drivers
- I/O Processing
- Kernel-Mode Driver Framework (KMDF)
- User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF)
- The Plug and Play (PnP) Manager
- The Power Manager
- Conclusion
- 8. Storage Management
-
9. Memory Management
- Introduction to the Memory Manager
- Services the Memory Manager Provides
- Kernel-Mode Heaps (System Memory Pools)
- Heap Manager
- Virtual Address Space Layouts
- User Address Space Layout
- Address Translation
- Page Fault Handling
- Stacks
- Virtual Address Descriptors
- NUMA
- Section Objects
- Driver Verifier
- Page Frame Number Database
- Physical Memory Limits
- Working Sets
- Proactive Memory Management (SuperFetch)
- Conclusion
- 10. Cache Manager
-
11. File Systems
- Windows File System Formats
- File System Driver Architecture
- Troubleshooting File System Problems
- Common Log File System
- NTFS Design Goals and Features
- NTFS File System Driver
- NTFS On-Disk Structure
- NTFS Recovery Support
- Encrypting File System Security
- Conclusion
-
12. Networking
- Windows Networking Architecture
- Networking APIs
- Multiple Redirector Support
- Name Resolution
- Location and Topology
- Protocol Drivers
- NDIS Drivers
- Binding
- Layered Network Services
- Conclusion
- 13. Startup and Shutdown
- 14. Crash Dump Analysis
- Glossary
- Index
- About the Authors
- Copyright
Product information
- Title: Windows Internals, Fifth Edition
- Author(s):
- Release date: June 2009
- Publisher(s): Microsoft Press
- ISBN: 9780735625303
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