Troubleshoot VMM: DebugView for Windows

Introduction

DebugView for Windows is an application that lets you monitor debug output on your local system, or any computer on the network that you can reach via TCP/IP. It is capable of displaying both kernel-mode and Win32 debug output, so you don't need a debugger to catch the debug output your applications or device drivers generate, nor do you need to modify your applications or drivers to use non-standard debug output APIs.

970066  How to collect traces in System Center Virtual Machine Manager

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;970066

 

Important:

DebugView is generally only required when it is not possible to obtain an ETL trace through the MPSReport tool. DebugView does, however, provide information about technologies that are not directly related to VMM but that may have an effect on VMM behavior.

 

Note:

‘VMMTrace.cmd’ is a script that automates the trace collection process by performing the steps below. This utility may save time and make the trace capturing process more user friendly for customers. The utility can be found at the following location: http://blogs.technet.com/b/jonjor/archive/2011/01/07/vmmtrace-simplified-scvmm-tracing.aspx

 

Obtaining DebugView for Windows

DebugView for Windows can be downloaded from the Windows Sysinternals site at the following link:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647.aspx

 

Before Collecting a DebugView Trace

1. Install DebugView on the VMM server, the host in question, and/or the Web server (for troubleshooting self-service portal issues).

2. Save the following code into a text file and name it "odsflags.cmd":

   @echo off

   echo ODS control flags - only trace with set flags will go to ODS

    

   if (%1)==() goto :HELP

   if (%1)==(-?) goto :HELP

   if (%1)==(/?) goto :HELP

    

   echo Setting flag to %1...

   reg ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Tracing\Microsoft\Carmine" /v ODSFLAGS /t REG_DWORD /d %1 /f

   echo Done.

   goto :EXIT

    

   :HELP

   echo Usage: odsflags [flag], where flag is

   echo TRACE_ERROR = 0x2,

   echo TRACE_DBG_NORMAL = 0x4,

   echo TRACE_DBG_VERBOSE = 0x8,

   echo TRACE_PERF = 0x10,

   echo TRACE_TEST_INFO = 0x20,

   echo TRACE_TEST_WARNING = 0x40,

   echo TRACE_TEST_ERROR = 0x80,

    

   :EXIT

3. Save the following code into a text file and name it "odson.reg":

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Tracing\Microsoft\Carmine]

   "ODS"=dword:00000001

4. Save the following code into a text file and name it "odsoff.reg":

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Tracing\Microsoft\Carmine]

   "ODS"=dword:00000000

5. Copy the three files created above, odsflags.cmd, odson.reg, and odsoff.reg, to the machines that DebugView will be used on.

6. Run the following commands at an elevated Command Prompt:

odson.reg

odsflags.cmd 255

(If you need to collect traces for both VMM Server and the host or the Web server, make sure to run these commands on all of these computers).

 

Collecting a DebugView Trace

1. Open DebugView as an administrator and ensure that both Capture Win32 and Capture Global Win32 are selected on the Capture menu item. You should be able to see tracing from the VMM features showing up in DebugView. (If you need to collect traces for both VMM management server and the host, make sure to do these steps on all of these computers).

   Figure 2: DebugView.exe Capture menu

2. Restart the Virtual Machine Manager Service on the VMM management server by running the following commands at an elevated command prompt:

   net stop vmmservice

   net start vmmservice

3. Restart the Virtual Disk Service by running the following commands at an elevated command prompt:

   net stop vds

   net start vds

4. Restart the Virtual Machine Manager Agent service on the host by running the following commands at an elevated command prompt:

   net stop vmmagent

   net start vmmagent

5. Restart the IIS service on the Web server by running the following command at an elevated command prompt:

   ** iisreset**

6. Reproduce the issue.

7. After reproducing the issue, save the output from the DebugView to a text file for analysis.

Important:

Turn off tracing after collecting the data by running the following command at a Command Prompt: odsoff.reg

 

The format of a DebugView trace differs from that of an ETL trace since DebugView captures all Win32 application activity and, if selected, Kernel mode activity. If saved as a text file, it may be opened in other tools such as TextAnalysisTool.net or Trace32.

 

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See Also

Still looking for the content you need?

System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) General Troubleshooting Guide

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