Visual Studio 2019 kernel mode driver projects stopped generating .sys files.

Question

Visual Studio 2019 kernel mode driver projects stopped generating .sys files.

Jack Melville 1

Visual Studio 2019 kernel mode driver projects stopped generating .sys files. On a project folder previously built with VS2019 I delete the x86 and x64 output folders and build again. Obj files are built but the only linker output file present is vc142.pdb. The first error seen is from signtool when it tries to sign the .sys file.

The link.write.1.tlog file shows the files being written:

^C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\CAPTURE.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\COMPRESS.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\DEVICE.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\FILTER.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\FORMATS.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\GRABBER.OBJ|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\IDEADRV.RES|C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\PREVIEW.OBJ
C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\IDEADRV32.SYS
C:\FORESIGHT\IDEA-GIT.3.5.033\IDEADRV\IDEADRV\X86\RELEASE\IDEADRV32.PDB

This happens on 2 systems. I tried updating VS2019, same result. I haven't tried to build a driver for about 2 months, it worked on 11/17/2020 with the same folder on the same computers.

Thanks,
Jack Melville

2 answers

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Answer 1

Dylan Zhu-MSFT 6,421

Hi JackMelville,

Please try to delete the .vs folder, then start visual studio and rebuild your project. And check if the generated files exist in the release folder which next to sln file. Best Regards, Dylan

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Jack Melville 1 Reputation point

2021-01-26T12:39:16.693+00:00

Thanks but I already tried that with no luck. Also VS2019 is running in admin mode and it will build the other executables in the solution with no problems. It also fails if I put the driver project in a solution by itself. This driver build has always worked up until now. One system is Win7 the other is Win10. The only thing I can think of that would make 2 systems behave the same way is some update to a runtime that VS uses has caused this. Both systems are set to automatically update. Both systems have .NET Core Runtime v2.1.24 that was automatically installed in mid January.
Jack Melville 1 Reputation point

2021-01-26T19:20:30.437+00:00
I found the problem. The timestamp server was set to verisign, which is now retired. It needs to be globalsign. I got taken down the wrong path because the error message said either the timestamp server cannot be reached or the target is missing. When I noticed there were no output files I assumed missing target was the problem. What I didn't know was the WindowsDriver.Common.targets file in the "ProductionSign" section contains the line:

<OnError ExecuteTargets="RemoveUnsignedOutput"/>

which deleted the files. :(

A less ambiguous error message would have been helpful.

Thanks for trying Dylan!

Answer 2

Dipsan Dhimal 0

how did you install KMDF with WDK i dont know how to make

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Visual Studio 2019 kernel mode driver projects stopped generating .sys files.

2 answers

Please try to delete the .vs folder, then start visual studio and rebuild your project. And check if the generated files exist in the release folder which next to sln file. Best Regards, Dylan

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