4.1.12 Splitting Symbols from Kernel Drivers

This explains how to remove symbolic debugging information from drivers into a .dbg file. This reduces the amount of disk space that the driver consumes as well as creating a separate file that contains the debugging information.

To create a .dbg file from a driver created using this DDK, do the following:

1. Obtain the base address, in the optional headers information, of the driver by using dumpbin.exe:

DUMPBIN /headers driver 
 

Where driver is the name of the driver image to obtain information for.

1. With the address obtained, use rebase.exe, to remove the symbolic debugging information into a separate file:

REBASE -b address -x path driver
 

Where address is the base address obtained for the driver and path is the path

When this has been done a new .sys file will have been created for the driver that does not contain the symbolic debugging information used by the debugger and a .dbg file will have be created that contains the information previous found in the original driver .sys file.