Windows Internals, Part 1: Covering Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7

Windows Internals

by Mark E. Russinovich, David A. Solomon, Alex Ionescu

PDelve inside Windows architecture and internals#8212;guided by a team of internationally renowned internals experts. Fully updated for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, this classic guide delivers key architectural insights on system design, debugging, performance, and support#8212;along with hands-on experiments to experience Windows internal behavior firsthand.PSee how Windows components work behind the scenes#58;PulliUnderstand how the core system and management mechanisms work/li liExplore internal system data structures using tools like the kernel debugger/li liGo inside the Windows security model to see how it authorizes access to data/li liUnderstand how Windows manages physical and virtual memory/li liTour the Windows networking stack from top to bottom/li liTroubleshoot file-system access problems and system boot problems/li liLearn how to analyze crashes/li /ul

Genres: Computer Science, Reference, Programming, Technology, Computers, Technical, Nonfiction

754 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2012

About the author

Mark Russinovich is a Technical Fellow in Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud operating system group. Russinovich is a widely recognized expert in Windows operating system internals as well as operating system architecture and design.

Russinovich joined Microsoft when Microsoft acquired Winternals software, the company he cofounded in 1996 and where he worked as Chief Software Architect. He is also cofounder of Sysinternals.com, where he wrote and published dozens of popular Windows administration and diagnostic utilities including Autoruns, Process Explorer and Tcpview.

Russinovich coauthored "Windows Internals" and "The Sysinternals Administrator's Reference," both from Microsoft Press, authored the cyberthriller Zero Day, is a Contributing Editor for TechNet Magazine and Senior Contributing Editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine, and has written many articles on Windows internals. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences around the world, including Microsoft's TechEd, IT Forum, and Professional Developer's Conference, as well as Windows Connections, Windev, and TechMentor, and has taught Windows internals, troubleshooting and file system and device driver development to companies worldwide, including Microsoft, the CIA and the FBI. Russinovich earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Reviews

[Stefan Albu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference for a lot of info that's essential for driver testing or development under the windows OS.

[David López · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has an excellent description of windows internals with helpful exercises to try. Although sometimes a lot of time is expended on not that important subjects while some important ones received little attention and it can be boring in some places.
Despite of that it is an excellent reference to understand the complexity of this OS, to learn a bit about the history behind some features and to get a good idea how complex a OS could be and why Windows is going to live for a long time still.
I'll recommend doing the exercises when possible, they are well defined and are not hard to do.

[Arnold Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's detailed and structured. Topics on different subsytems of the windows kernel are good- memory management, process structure, etc.

[Ian Hanschen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reads a bit flakey in describing non-NTOS parts. Part 2 gets to The Good Stuff