The definitive guide to modern Windows internals: new coverage of virtualization, file systems, boot, security, and more.

For advanced computing professionals, this is the definitive up-to-date guide to how Windows core components behave “under the hood.” Using it, experienced developers can build more powerful and scalable software, administrators can debug complex system and performance problems, and security researchers can harden their systems. This Seventh Edition is fully updated through the May 2021 (21H1/2104) updates to Windows 10 and Windows Server (2022, 2019, and 2016). It adds extensive content on Hyper-V, plus fully rewritten chapters on the boot process, new storage technologies, and Windows system and management mechanisms. As always, it delivers unparalleled insight based on insider access to Microsoft source code, with hands-on experiments using the latest debugging tools to show you Windows’ internal behaviors firsthand. With Windows 11 introducing new user interface design elements that build upon the same core technologies as Windows 10, readers will be well-prepared for this new chapter of computing.

Leading Windows insiders help you:

• Discover system mechanisms for serving device drivers and applications, including ALPC, Object Manager, synchronization, WNF, WoW64, and the processor execution model

• Explore underlying hardware architecture, including trap processing, segmentation, and side channel vulnerabilities

• Understand Windows virtualization, and how virtualization-based security (VBS) protects against OS vulnerabilities

• Delve into key management and configuration mechanisms, including the Registry, Windows services, WMI, and Task Scheduling

• Explore diagnostic services such as Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) and DTrace

• Learn how the cache manager and file system drivers interact to provide reliable support for files, directories, and disks, including on Persistent Memory (NVDIMM) DAX devices.

• Understand NTFS, ReFS, and other Windows file systems

• Review Windows startup/shutdown operations, and OS components involved in boot flow

• Analyze UEFI-based Secure Boot, Measured Boot, and Secure Launch

About This Book

• For experienced programmers, architects, software quality and performance specialists, administrators, security practitioners, and support professionals

• Assumes you are a Windows power user