Use !critsec to find out, which thread is waiting for a critical section

If you need to find out which thread is owning a critical section a blocked thread is waiting for you can first get the stack args by

kb

Then you need to get the critical section address from the stack. This is an argument passed to ntdll!RtlEnterCriticalSection API as first parameter.

By typing

!critsec 'address'

You'll get information about the section like: LockCount, RecursionCount, OwningThread, EntryCount, ContentionCount and the Locked state.

CritSec +81347c at 0081347c
LockCount 8
RecursionCount 1
OwningThread c6c
EntryCount 8
ContentionCount 8
*** Locked

Debug Tutorial Part 4: Writing WINDBG Extensions

Cool article from Toby Opferman about how extending windbg. Must read:
Debug Tutorial Part 4: Writing WINDBG Extensions

A word for WinDbg (Mike Taulty)

A very good starting point if you are planning to dig a bit into windbg:

W word for WinDbg
W word for WinDbg (2)

Starting UltraEdit from WinDbg

By setting follwoing env variable:
WINDBG_INVOKE_EDITOR=C:\PROGRA~1\ULTRAE~1\uedit32.exe %f/%l/1
{you might need to adapt the path}

You get the ability to open a source file from within windbg by simply right clicking on the source window header and then clicking "Edit this file..."

(this works also with other editors ;-) )

use "lmv m " to display detailed information about a specific module

e.g.:

0:003> lmv m actbar2
start end module name
35000000 350d0000 Actbar2 (export symbols) C:\SnapShots\voneinem_view_a0032858_c\VespucciPool\common\bin\debug\Actbar2.ocx
Loaded symbol image file: C:\SnapShots\voneinem_view_a0032858_c\VespucciPool\common\bin\debug\Actbar2.ocx
Image path: C:\SnapShots\voneinem_view_a0032858_c\VespucciPool\common\bin\debug\Actbar2.ocx
Image name: Actbar2.ocx
Timestamp: Wed Oct 27 16:52:02 2004 (417FB612)
CheckSum: 000D7481
ImageSize: 000D0000
File version: 2.5.2.121
Product version: 2.5.2.121
File flags: 0 (Mask 3F)
File OS: 40004 NT Win32
File type: 2.0 Dll
File date: 00000000.00000000
Translations: 0000.04b0 0409.04b0
CompanyName: Data Dynamics
ProductName: Data Dynamics ActiveBar 2.0 Control
InternalName: ActiveBar 2.5
OriginalFilename: ActiveBar2.ocx
ProductVersion: 2, 5, 2, 121
FileVersion: 2, 5, 2, 121
PrivateBuild: 2, 5, 2, 121
SpecialBuild: 2, 5, 2, 121
FileDescription: ActiveBar 2.5 Control
LegalCopyright: Copyright © 1999-2004 Data Dynamics
LegalTrademarks: Copyright © 1999-2004 Data Dynamics
Comments: Copyright © 1999-2004 Data Dynamics


To get a quick list of modules simply type "lm"

Display unicode strings the easy way

Did you ever wonder why windbg does not display unicode strings but simply shows the pointer?

Try ".enable_unicode 1"! This causes all 16-bit (USHORT) arrays and pointers to be displayed as Unicode strings.

(".enable_unicode 0" restores the default)