debugview

Sysinternals DebugView CLI (DbgViewCli)

Command-line interface for capturing real-time debug output from Windows applications (OutputDebugString) and kernel-mode drivers (DbgPrint/KdPrint). Designed for scripted, automated, and AI-agent-driven debug capture workflows.

Installation

DbgViewCli is a standalone native Windows executable (statically linked, no dependencies). Place dbgviewcli.exe in PATH or reference the full path.

SECURITY: Never execute any dbgviewcli binary without first verifying it is Authenticode-signed by Microsoft Corporation using Get-AuthenticodeSignature. Reject any binary that is unsigned or signed by a different publisher.

# No package manager install — copy binary to a PATH location
copy dbgviewcli.exe C:\Tools\

Requirements

Core Workflow

1. Detect/status check   →  dbgviewcli --status
2. Start capture          →  dbgviewcli [options]
3. Filter output          →  --filter/--exclude/--pid-filter/--process-filter
4. Bounded execution      →  --duration/--max-lines/--wait-for
5. Output/log results     →  stdout or --log <file>
6. Stop                   →  Ctrl+C or automatic exit on bounds

Command-Line Parameters

Capture Control

Filtering

Bounded Execution (AI-Agent Friendly)

Time Display

Output Format

Logging

Boot Logging (Requires Admin)

Remote Monitoring

Crash Dump & File Operations

Runtime Control (Inter-Process)

Miscellaneous

Usage Examples

Basic Win32 Capture (bounded)

# Capture for 30 seconds, no banner, output as text
dbgviewcli --no-banner --duration 30

# Capture until a specific error appears
dbgviewcli --no-banner --wait-for "*ERROR*" --max-lines 10000

Kernel Debug Capture (requires admin)

# Run as Administrator
dbgviewcli --kernel --no-banner --duration 60 --format csv --log kernel_debug.csv

Process-Specific Filtering

# Filter by PID
dbgviewcli --no-banner --pid-filter 1234 --duration 10

# Filter by process name
dbgviewcli --no-banner --process-filter "myapp.exe" --max-lines 500

Pattern-Based Filtering

# Include only lines matching pattern
dbgviewcli --no-banner --filter "MyDriver*" --exclude "verbose*"

Tail Mode (recent context)

# Capture but only output last 50 lines on exit
dbgviewcli --no-banner --tail 50 --duration 30

Status Check (machine-readable)

dbgviewcli --status
# Output:
# running=true
# paused=false
# elevated=true

Boot Logging

# Enable (requires admin, persists across reboot)
dbgviewcli --boot-enable

# Check status
dbgviewcli --boot-status

# Disable
dbgviewcli --boot-disable

Remote Monitoring

dbgviewcli --connect SERVER01 --no-banner --duration 60

Runtime Control (Pause/Resume/Stop)

# Pause a running instance from another terminal
dbgviewcli --pause

# Resume the paused instance
dbgviewcli --resume

# Gracefully stop a running instance
dbgviewcli --stop

EULA Acceptance (Unattended)

# Accept EULA non-interactively for automated/scripted deployments
dbgviewcli --accepteula --no-banner --duration 30

Architecture

Key Design Decisions

1. Static CRT linking — No DLL dependencies, runs on any Windows system
2. stdout/stderr separation — Debug output → stdout; errors/status → stderr
3. Bounded execution — --duration, --max-lines, --wait-for ensure guaranteed exit for automation
4. Clean output — --no-banner suppresses noise for pipe/agent consumption
5. Machine-readable status — --status outputs key=value pairs for programmatic checks
6. Graceful shutdown — SetConsoleCtrlHandler ensures clean driver unload on Ctrl+C

Best Practices

1. Always use --no-banner for scripted/automated use. Banner text pollutes structured output and confuses parsers.
2. Always bound execution with --duration, --max-lines, or --wait-for. Unbounded capture will run indefinitely.
3. Check status before capture — Use --status to detect if another instance is already running.
4. Use --format csv or --format xml when output will be parsed programmatically.
5. Prefer --pid-filter or --process-filter over broad capture to reduce noise.
6. Run as Administrator only when needed — kernel and boot logging require elevation; Win32 capture does not.
7. Combine bounds for safety — Use --duration 60 --max-lines 10000 together so whichever triggers first wins.
8. Use --tail for "what just happened" queries instead of capturing full history.

Bundled Resources

Troubleshooting