How to Connect to a Device for Debugging

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You can establish a connection from Platform Builder to a Windows CE–based device to debug the target device. The kernel debugger collects information from a Windows CE–based platform if the platform includes the Kdstub.dll library for the kernel debugger in the OS image.

Consider how you want to debug your platform prior to finalizing the design of the platform. You must complete some of the steps required to connect to a device for debugging prior to building your platform. When you use Platform Builder to set up a platform, you specify whether you want the platform to include support for the kernel debugger. You also choose a type of OS image, which affects the characteristics of the information collected by the kernel debugger.

To track your progress in the following table, select the check box that corresponds to each step.

  Step Topic
1. Open an existing platform, or create a new platform. Creating a Platform
2. Familiarize yourself with the types of Windows CE OS images. OS Image Types
3. Select a debug OS image or a release OS image for your platform. Selecting a Debug or Release OS Image
4. If you chose a release OS image, add support for the kernel debugger to your platform.
Note   If you chose a debug OS image, support for the kernel debugger is included, unless you specifically remove this support.
Using the Kernel Debugger with a Release OS Image
5. Build your platform. You do not need to choose an active configuration, because you already chose a configuration when you selected a debug or release OS image in step 3. Building a Platform
6. Establish a hardware connection between your development workstation and the target device, and then configure Platform Builder to download the OS image to the target device over the established connection.
  • If your target device is a CEPC, you must boot an OS image on the CEPC.
  • If your target device is custom hardware, you can use the steps for booting an OS image on a CEPC as a model for establishing a connection to your custom hardware. For more information, see How to Configure a CEPC to Download an OS Image.
  • If your target device is the Emulator, you must download your OS image to the Emulator. For more information, see Downloading an OS Image to the Emulator.
 Configuring a Connection for Downloading and Debugging
7. Verify that the kernel debugger connects to the target device. When the kernel debugger connects, debug messages appear in the Output window of Platform Builder on the Debug tab. Not applicable.

After you establish a connection between Platform Builder and the target device, the kernel debugger collects data from the target device. For information about viewing this data, see Debug Information Viewing. For information about breakpoints, see Breakpoint Viewing and Enabling.

See Also

Platform Development How-to Topics | Platform Debugging | Tutorial: Using Platform Builder with the Emulator | Tutorial: Using Platform Builder with a CEPC | How to Use the IDE to Create, Customize, and Build a Platform

 Last updated on Friday, October 08, 2004

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