Defrag Tools: #1 - Building your USB thumbdrive

The Discussion

• 

  I'm using this tool on my USB thumb drive:

  WSCC - Windows System Control Center
  http://www.kls-soft.com/wscc/

  

   

  this tool can also update the programs so you don't have to download the zip all time again.

  
  And MS provides symbols for hotfixes. MS doesn't provide symbols for some tools like Office, MSE.

   

  And for the MSIs you can use the admin install mode of Windows Installer to get the install structure in a folder where you want it and copy the folder to your USB drive. because admin mode is ugly to type in the cmd prompt, use this tool:

  http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/124567-universal-extractor-latest-version-161/

  After you've installed it, make a rightclick on the MSI and select extract 1 of the "Uniextract" options.

   

• 

  Hi Andrew, do you have the files (CMD scripts) for download you discussed?

• 

  Edit: Added to show description...

  --- Symbols.cmd ---

  md c:\My
  md c:\My\Src
  md c:\My\Sym
  md c:\My\SymCache

  setx /M _NT_SOURCE_PATH SRV*C:\My\Src
  setx /M _NT_SYMBOL_PATH SRV*C:\My\Sym*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
  setx /M _NT_SYMCACHE_PATH C:\My\SymCache

• 

  Edit: Added to show description...

  --- DbgHelp_Logging.cmd ---

  rem https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680687.aspx

  md c:\My
  md c:\My\DbgHelp

  setx DBGHELP_DBGOUT 1
  setx DBGHELP_LOG C:\My\DbgHelp\DbgHelpLog.txt

• 

  Edit: Added to show description...

  --- URLs ---
  www.sysinternals.com
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8279

  Sorry about the omission - Larry and I were rushed making more episodes when we we wrote the first show's description.

• 

  Great show yet again, boys.  I use these tools/techniques all the time but it seems like every time I hear someone talk about them I learn something new.  Looking forward to the next 30 episodes!

  @Andre: Thanks for the wscc tip...awesome sauce...

  @Larry: Did you just channel Kriss-Kross at the start of this episode???  Total man-card violation...

• 

  Good stuff! I look forward to more ...and running Symbols on apps I created to see what all they are exposing!

• 

  Thanks, I was planning on going to bed early tonight but when I saw that defrag was finally back I watched it, and you answered my question, and then a bonus - Andrew Richards back and with a new show. Great tips, now i should probably go and remove my sysinternals suite and debugging tools x64 so I can reinstall everything this way.

• 

  I'm looking forward to this series. Are transcripts available?

• 

  @Robert Sterbal: At the moment, we have no plans to make transcripts.  The Sysinternals Administrator's Reference is a good substitute in their absence.

• 

  @jp2code & All:  The next tool is a (long) episode on Process Explorer, then two shows on Process Monitor (one on the application and one showing examples), then Autoruns, and then ...

• 

  Great Show.

  I getting all my friends and workmate to watch.

• 

  @windev: no prob RE omission, loved the TR15 lvl 400 debug session, just had to find this show and keep the goodness rolling on, SEE's rock!

• 

  Very useful idea for the show, thank you.
  
  I didn't get what the other two variables are for (_NT_SOURCE_PATH; _NT_SYMCACHE_PATH)? For symbols to work in ProcExp it needs only _NT_SYMBOL_PATH, right? And if I'd like to run it from USB stick, can I just set path in Symbols Settings menu of ProcExp to the Syms folder on flash drive? Except for size and speed are there any other concerns in doing that?
  
  Is there a way to download all the current MS symbols for let's say Windows 7 at once, not the .iso file?
  
  Th

• 

  Great show. And look forward to all the shows in the series. 

• 

  @Joe:  If you have a enough space, definitely set the path to the USB Stick. I'd definitely do this if I was using one of those self-powered 2" harddisks. You'd use X:\My\... instead of C:\My\...

  _NT_SOURCE_PATH is used by Process Monitor and VMMap (and more).

  If you are internal to Microsoft, set the _NT_SOURCE_PATH and _NT_SYMBOL_PATH to the same value. The internal symbol server can download source code, as well as symbols and executables (images).

  _NT_SYMCACHE_PATH is used by Windows Performance Toolkit (xPerf)

  I'll dive deep in to these environment variables again when I do the VMMap, WPT and Debugging Tools episodes.

• 

  Can this be done with windows 10

• 

  Their win10 episode...
  
  https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Defrag-Tools/Defrag-Tools-131-Windows-10-SDK

• 

  Excellent series. One critique: Defrag Tools: #1 actually had nothing to do with creating a usb drive. I was expecting you to insert a usb drive and show all of the files that go onto it in order to walk up to someones computer and start troubleshooting. Maybe the usb will get created in #2. I'll watch. Are all of the files in My copied and pasted to the usb? Maybe you stated that and I missed it. Thanks again.