Running WinDbg in headless mode

Question

Is there a way to WinDbg in pure headless mode ? My use case is that I should be able to imitate "!analyze -v" command for a minidump on command line without launching WinDbg GUI.

Deviltry

How about using cdb as your debugger (console version of WinDbg) and then configure the default debugger in the registry to launch: cdb.exe -c "!analyze -v" -p %ld -e %ld – Vulpine

Let me give it a shot. Thanks for your prompt response – Deviltry

So I found cdb to be useful and serving my purpose. Thanks :) – Deviltry

Answer 1

With the Debugging Tools for Windows, there is also cdb, the console debugger.

To debug a crash dump, use the -z "<dump>" option. To run a command immediately, use -c "<command>". To output everything into a file you can redirect the output with a usual DOS > <file> or open a log file using .logopen <file>. To exit CDB after the analysis, use q.

You want to make sure that you have symbols set up correctly, so include a .symfix <path>;.reload. I prefer using .symfix <symbolpath> in the command rather than -y <symbolpath>, so I can always check in the log that it has been set correctly.

Full command line (using redirect)

"<windbgpath>\cdb.exe" -z "<dumpfile>" -c ".symfix <symbolpath>;.reload;!analyze -v;q" > "<logfile>"

Disadvantage of redirect: line ending is LF only. And you get a lot of noise when the debugger starts.

Full command line (using log file)

"<windbgpath>\cdb.exe" -z "<dumpfile>" -c ".logopen <logfile>;.symfix <symbolpath>;.reload;!analyze -v;.logclose;q"

Bolme