New Kernel for Vista SP1, New Kernel for Windows 7
Microsoft is simply spoiling its users when it comes down to the evolution of the core of the Windows client.
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20.3.2008 Is MinWin really the new Windows 7 kernel?
In my post about Windows 7 back in January (“Windows 7 = Vista Release 2?), I ended with a statement that deserves some follow-up - Those who are predicting that Windows 7 will include some radically stripped-down kernel (the so-called MinWin project) or a new file system are missing the point completely.
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1.4.2008 Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 1
This is the first part of a series on what's new in the Windows Vista kernel. In this issue, I'll look at changes in the areas of processes and threads, and in I/O. Future installments will cover memory management, startup and shutdown, reliability and recovery, and security.
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21.1.2007 Windows 7 Kernel version remains unchanged - still 7.0
A lot of confusion was generated today as several news sites reported about a spotting of an MSDN page indicating that the Windows 7 kernel version was 7.0 and not 6.1. An interview conducted by Neowin in October 2008 with Mike Nash also caused some misinterpretation.
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22.4.2009 Microsoft patches critical Windows kernel flaw
Microsoft patched critical vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel that could be remotely exploited by an attacker to gain control of a computer. In all three bulletins patching eight Windows flaws were released Tuesday as part of Microsoft's monthly patching cycle.
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11.3.2009 Looking beyond XP SP3 and Vista SP1 - Understanding the MinWin Kernel in Windows 7
In terms of new releases on the Windows client front, Microsoft is cooking the first Service Pack for Windows Vista and the third and final Service Pack for Windows XP.
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18.12.2007 Microsoft to Move Graphics Outside OS Kernel.
Microsoft will move the graphics for its next version of Windows outside of the operating system's kernel to improve reliability, the software giant has told Techworld.
Vista's graphics subsystem, codenamed Avalon and formally known as the Windows Presentation Foundation, will be pulled out the kernel because many lock-ups are the result of the GUI freezing, Microsoft infrastructure architect Giovanni Marchetti told us exclusively yesterday.
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16.12.2005 Kernel Memory Space Analyzer Version 8.1 and guide
Microsoft Support Professionals Toolkit for Windows. The Kernel Memory Space Analyzer is a tool to help expert debugging engineers analyze Windows crash dump files.
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31.8.2006 Microsoft acknowledges Vista kernel elevation vulnerability
What was not supposed to happen in Windows Vista apparently has: Despite a layer of protection that was supposed to prevent against processes elevating their own privileges, Microsoft now says someone found a way to do it.
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15.12.2007 Microsoft junks and replaces Vista kernel in SP1
One of the “big” features discussed in early speculation of Windows Vista SP1 was the kernel upgrade, which was supposed to bring the operating system into line with the Longhorn kernel used in Windows Server 2008.
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5.2.2008 ATI driver flaw exposes Vista kernel to attackers
An unpatched flaw in an ATI driver was at the center of the mysterious Purple Pill proof-of-concept tool that exposed a way to maliciously tamper with the Windows Vista kernel. Thanks to pacpis for this news.
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12.8.2007 Windows 7 to also be version 7 of the Windows kernel?
Almost anyone who has been following the development of Windows 7 knows that it's currently kernel version 6.1.
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20.4.2009 Windows 7 Migration Tool to Move From Windows XP to Windows 7
In past we had covered guide on upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. Unfortunately there is no direct upgrade path from Windows Xp to Windows 7 and you have to use Windows Easy Transfer utility if you want to move your user and program files from XP to Windows 7.
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22.11.2009 Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
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5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
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29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
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3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 – 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
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15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
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10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
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Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
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6.2.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008 Windows Fiji Has RTMd as Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008
Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows Fiji has been released to manufacturing.
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18.7.2008 Windows 7 Beta Doesn't Play Nice with Windows Azure Cloud OS Tools
The promise for Windows 7 is that it will deliver an evolution when it will come down to stretching into the Cloud compared to its precursor, Windows Vista.
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16.1.2009 Internet Explorer 8 MUI packs for Windows XP, Windows Server 03
As detailed in our previous blog post, the following Internet Explorer MUI packs shipped today.
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17.5.2009 Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta adds Windows 7 support
Microsoft announced the release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta, along with news that it will feature Windows 7 support.
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20.7.2009 Check for RAM Error or Defect in Windows 7 and Vista with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Memory or RAM is one of the most important electronic hardware component on a computer systems, not only in term of speed or clock frequency and size, but also the reliability of hardware ecosystem of the RAM sticks or memory modules and its subsystem.
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1.10.2009 The Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Well, Microsoft still puts effort in old Windows versions...
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31.3.2006 Windows Vista comes with 19,500 drivers on DVD – more on Windows Update
Ever needed to find a driver for a product and wished Windows would either just have the driver in it, or that their Windows Update service could provide it? With Vista, it can – and new features and updates will be forthcoming too. It’s about time!
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20.11.2006Windows 7 to also be version 7 of the Windows kernel?
Most anyone who has been following the development of Windows 7 knows that it's currently kernel version 6.1. But all that is set to change, at
least if an obscure MSDN page is to be believed. In a page describing device installation with the Windows Driver Kit, the documentation shows
"Msft.NT.7.0" being used as a label to specify drivers only for use with Windows 7.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
20.04.2009'You Already Have MinWin'
We have learnt quite a lot about
Windows 7 this week, and one of the things was that Windows 7
would not get a new kernel. The call for a new kernel has been made a few
times on the internet, but anyone with a bit more insight into Windows' kernel knows that there is absolutely no need to write a new kernel for
Windows - the problems with Windows lie in userland, not kernelland. While the authenticity of the Shipping Seven blog is not undisputed, the blogger
makes some
very excellent points regarding the kernel
matter.
winbeta.org -
30.05.2008Microsoft junks and replaces Vista kernel in SP1
One of the “big” features discussed in early speculation of Windows Vista SP1 was the kernel upgrade, which was supposed to bring the
operating system into line with the Longhorn kernel used in Windows Server 2008. And yet with Vista SP1 going RTM, there hasn't been so much as a
peep from Microsoft about the mooted kernel update. Has it happened? Well the answer is
yes it has, and presumably the main reason for
Microsoft’s silence on the subject is that as they’re keen to promote the improvements and enhancements to Vista, rather than placing
emphasis on a kernel upgrade, which some people might see as a risk of newly-introduced instability.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
05.02.2008Changes afoot in Vista SP1 RC0/Windows 2008 RC0 kernel memory dumps
With the advent of Windows Vista there are changes made in how the operating system determines if it can take a kernel memory dump or not. Starting
in Vista the amount of memory allocated for kernel mode could vary dynamically. If the pagefile is not big enough, switching to minidump at dump time
cant be done easily. So the dump stack initialization is happening at the time of boot where this check for the pagefile size is done.
What does this mean? It means if you don't have a pagefile as large as physical memory at boot, and your system is configured for a kernel
dump, you'll end up getting a minidump. If you permit me to opine, this makes sense in the client space where a valid dump is more critical than a
corrupted kernel dump, as the results usually would get uploaded to Microsoft via WERCON or another mechanism. If further triage is needed MSFT could
contact you with the ability to setup a kernel capture.
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16.10.2007Identifying 32-bit Kernel Memory Issues
Clint Huffman: I'm a Premier Field Engineer (PFE) and I go onsite with customers on a regular basis to conduct Health Checks. This is my first blog
posting on TechNet, but I figured it would be on something important versus "Hello World". ;-)
More and more I am seeing
customers who are not aware of kernel memory issues on the 32-bit Windows architecture. If you are running 32-bit Windows 2000 or 32-bit Windows 2003,
then check the kernel memory. Lack of kernel memory can lead to system-wide hangs which seem unexplainable, so this is a serious issue. Always
generally use and/or recommend 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 server to avoid these issues (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista have automatically
adjusting kernel memory pool sizes). This issue and other performance issues are addressed in the Vital Signs workshop (written by Shane Creamer),
which can be delivered by my team, Premier Field Engineering (PFE) - just contact your Technical Account Manager (TAM) if you are interested in this
course.
Here is a kernel memory chart for Windows 2003 Server...
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02.10.2007Microsoft Highlights Changes to the Windows Kernel
Attendees at
Microsoft's Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference here
got an in-depth and deeply
technical keynote outlining
the changes to the Windows
kernel and other key areas,
and how partners can take
advantage of these.
In his presentation
on May 16, Mark Russinovich, a
technical fellow in
Microsoft's platform and
services division and the
third keynoter of the day,
talked about how uniprocessor
kernel variants were now gone
from Windows Server 2008,
which reduces the need for
downtime by supporting
hardware configuration changes
without the need to reboot the
system.
The new
server product, which is the
basis for Microsoft's new
virtualization offering, also
introduced a new common
infrastructure called WHEA
(Windows Hardware Error
Architecture)...
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17.05.2007Windows 7 *is* MinWin
A lot of people assume that MinWin is a Microsoft effort to completely rewrite the Windows Kernel from scratch. That may be based on earlier (limited)
explanations about what it does, or it may have a lot to do with people assuming, due to people's efforts with open source software, that
rewriting the kernel will solve all of Windows problems. Well, Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow and guru of all things NT Kernel, attempts
to set the record straight in a 45 minute video from Channel 9. Microsoft also explains that "it *is* indeed in Windows 7." News source:
Windows-Now Video: Microsoft Explains MinWin
Read full
story.....
neowin.net -
04.12.2008Microsoft issues out-of-cycle fix for critical Windows RPC fault
If the Vista kernel can't be spoofed, it appears some of its key Internet Protocol kernel drivers can be. An IBM security division discovered the
problem, and this morning, Microsoft issued what it hopes will be a fix...
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09.01.2008Vista users: "You Already Have MinWin"
We have learnt quite a lot about Windows 7 this week, and one of the things was that Windows 7 would not get a new kernel. The call for a new kernel
has been made a few times on the internet, but anyone with a bit more insight into Windows' kernel knows that there is absolutely no need to write
a new kernel for Windows - the problems with Windows lie in userland, not kernelland. While the authenticity of the Shipping Seven blog is not
undisputed, the blogger makes some very excellent points regarding the kernel matter.
I have written numerous times that there is nothing
wrong with the Windows NT kernel currently powering about 90% of the world's desktops. It provides advanced security features, it's extremely
stable, very portable, and supports just about any piece of hardware in the x86 desktop and server markets. "In conclusion, scrapping Windows NT
would be a pointless exercise. It is a mature, stable, and, yes, secure system by design." I wrote a year ago, "Do not make the mistake of thinking
that simply because Microsoft refused to enforce proper security policies from the get-go, that NT is an insecure system by design."
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31.05.2008Final release of Windows 7 to have kernel version 6.1
fter the web learned earlier this week that the final name of Vista's successor was Windows 7, all hell broke loose. The general consensus was
that Windows 7 wasn't a bad name, but the reasoning behind it wasn't very clear. Many couldn't figure out how Microsoft had reached the
number 7 (I'll give you a hint: they were looking at the kernel version number, instead of counting every single minor and major Windows release).
But then others wanted to know why the current builds of Windows 7 were at kernel version 6.1, not 7.0.
Mike Nash, Corporate VP of Windows
Product Management, chimed in again on the Windows Vista Team Blog with the official explanation:
"So we decided to ship the Windows 7
code as Windows 6.1 - which is what you will see in the actual version of the product in cmd.exe or computer properties. There's been some fodder
about whether using 6.1 in the code is an indicator of the relevance of Windows 7. It is not. Windows 7 is a significant and evolutionary advancement
of the client operating system. It is in every way a major effort in design, engineering, and innovation. The only thing to read into the code
versioning is that we are absolutely committed to making sure application compatibility is optimized for our customers."
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
16.10.2008Microsoft to move graphics
outside OS kernel
Microsoft will move
the graphics for its next
version of Windows outside of
the operating system's kernel
to improve reliability, the
software giant has told
Techworld.
Vista's graphics subsystem,
codenamed Avalon and formally
known as the Windows
Presentation Foundation, will
be pulled out the kernel
because many lock-ups are the
result of the GUI freezing,
Microsoft infrastructure
architect Giovanni Marchetti
told us exclusively
yesterday.
The
company has already announced
to developers that most
drivers, including graphics,
will run in user mode - which
means that they don't get
access to the privileged
kernel mode (or Ring 0). At
this level, a process can do
anything it likes, including
overwriting memory that
doesn't belong to it. The
result of such overwriting by
(usually) buggy code is often
a system crash. So the move
should result in greater
reliability, because crashing
drivers cause some 89 per cent
of system crashes in Windows
XP, according to Microsoft.
When run in user mode, they
won't be able to bring down
the entire system...
winbeta.org -
15.12.2005x64 Kernel patch causes random restarts, fix on the way
Microsoft has disclosed that
update 932596, a patch released for the Kernel Patch Protection
feature that is included with x64 versions of Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008, seems to be causing random restarts on
certain machines. A Stop error is then generated (error code 0x0000001E, 0x000000D1, or another Stop error code). x86 versions of Windows are not
affected since they do not include the Kernel Patch Protection feature (also known as PatchGuard), a technology that is meant to prevent third-party
interventions into the core of the operating system.
winbeta.org -
02.07.2008New release of Linux kernel presents major changes
Linux expert Linus Torvalds announced in his blog on Wednesday that Linux kernel version 2.6.25 has been publicly released, with changes to WiFi
support, file system management, and virtualization...
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22.04.2008Mark Russinovich: On Working at MS, Server 2008 Kernel, MinWin vs ServerCore, HyperV and more
Charles Torre: I recently sat down with Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich to dig a bit into what's new in the Windows Server 2008 kernel. Of course,
we talk about many things including HyperV, application virtualization, kernel architecture (not everybody defines an OS kernel in the same way - tune
in to understand why this is the case. Mark has his own definition that may not be the same as yours....).
Recently, the MinWin
project was in the press after a university video lecture by a Microsoft Windows architect was released on the net. Most people immediately confused
MinWin with Windows Server 2008's ServerCore technology - the confusion stems from the incorrect assumption that ServerCore is a byproduct of the
MinWin work. In fact, they are not at all related. Mark explains the differences and hopefully this will end the confusion...
Of
course, Mark spends time on the whiteboard in this interview, drawing out the kernel architecture, explaining HyperV, touching on application
virtualization (running client applications without having to install them locally - tune in to understand what I mean...).
winbeta.org -
15.12.2007Mark Russinovich and David Solomon: Windows Internals 5 Released
Windows kernel expert and kernel "professor"
David Solomon and
Windows Kernel Technical Fellow
Mark Russinovich have written another
great book covering, in great detail, the internal composition of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. A third author,Alex Ionescu, joined
the fray this time around. Together, they've just released
W
indows Internals Fifth Edition. My order has been submitted! If you want to really understand the mechanics of Windows' latest generation general
purpose kernel, then go get this book.
winbeta.org -
19.06.2009'Critical' Linux kernel bugs discovered
Security researchers have uncovered "critical" security flaws in a version of the Linux kernel used by a large number of popular distributions. The
three bugs allow unauthorized users to read or write to kernel memory locations or to access certain resources in certain servers, according to a
SecurityFocus advisory.
They could be exploited by malicious, local users to cause denial of service attacks, disclose potentially
sensitive information, or gain "root" privileges, according to security experts. The bug affects all versions of the Linux kernel up to version
2.6.24.1, which contains a patch. Distributions such as Ubuntu, Turbolinux, SuSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, Debian and others are affected. The problems are
within three functions in the system call fs/splice.c, according to an advisory from Secunia.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
15.02.2008ATI driver flaw exposes Vista kernel to attackers
An unpatched flaw in an ATI
driver was at the center of
the mysterious Purple Pill
proof-of-concept tool that
exposed a way to maliciously
tamper with the Windows Vista
kernel.
Purple Pill, a utility
released by Alex Ionescu and
yanked an hour later after the
kernel developer realized that
the ATI driver flaw was not
yet patched, provided an easy
way to load unsigned drivers
onto Vista effectively
defeating the new
anti-rootkit/anti-DRM
mechanism built into
Microsofts newest operating
system.
In an interview, Ionescu
confirmed his tool was
exploiting a vulnerability in
an ATI driver atidsmxx.sys,
version 3.0.502.0 to patch
the kernel to turn off certain
checks for signed drivers.
This meant that a malicious
rootkit author could
essentially piggyback on ATIs
legitimately signed driver to
tamper with the Vista
kernel.
winbeta.org -
10.08.2007Microsoft comments on Vista SP1 kernel reports
Microsoft has revealed more information on changes to the Vista kernel as part of the release of Service Pack 1, but has denied that the enhancements
amount to an "upgrade" or "re-engineering".
In a statement released to ZDNet.co.uk on Wednesday, a Microsoft spokesperson
confirmed that enhancements have been made to the Vista kernel, taking the form of an extended set of APIs designed to benefit 64-bit application
development.
"The kernel has not been re-engineered. However, some APIs have been introduced through SP1
which
help ISVs develop software to run on 64-bit PCs (they patch the kernel)," Microsoft stated.
winbeta.org - 06.02.2008
The future of the Linux kernel, and what it tells us about Wikipedia
With 2,000 lines of code being added every single day, any lingering suggestion that Linux might suffer from a lack of support is clearly insane. But
what lessons can the open-source OS teach its somewhat younger encyclopaedic cousin, Wikipedia?
In his customary linux.conf.au
Kernel Report on the state of play in the Linux kernel, LWN.net co-founder and kernel contributor Jonathan Corbet gave an upbeat assessment of
Linux's future.
The current kernel development model in which a large volume of patches are added (creating what Corbet
described repeatedly as "API breakages and all that other good stuff"), followed by a feature freeze and intensive debugging until stability is
achieved, appears to have proved productive after a few hiccups. "It took a few releases to really get that discipline into place," Corbet said.
winbeta.org - 30.01.2008
Microsoft reacts to kernel hacks, updates Vista's defenses
Microsoft Corp. quietly beefed
up a key defensive feature of
64-bit Windows Vista yesterday
to better protect the
operating system against hacks
that have plagued it for
weeks.
The update to Vista's
Kernel Patch Protection,
a.k.a. PatchGuard, was issued
through Windows Update as a
high-priority download, but
not as a patch per se.
Microsoft, in fact, denied
that it was a security fix.
"While this updates adds
additional checks to the
Kernel Patch Protection
system, it does not involve a
security vulnerability," an
advisory posted yesterday by
the Microsoft Security
Response Center (MSRC) stated.
"The update does increase the
reliability, performance, and
resiliency provided by Kernel
Patch Protection."
Although the
update targets all 64-bit
editions of Windows, it's
Vista that stands out by
reason of recent events. Since
late July, a pair of utilities
have sidestepped a crucial
Vista security feature that
requires drivers to be signed
by a valid digital
certificate. Both utilities
piggybacked unsigned code onto
a legitimate driver to get the
former past Vista's defenses
and into the kernel.
winbeta.org - 15.08.2007
