Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 support for SHA256 driver signatures

The installation of KB3033929 and KB2921916 is required on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 systems to support the new SHA256 kernel mode driver signatures.

Scheduler

Uploader checks for scheduler task "AnalyzeSystem" – used by Windows to determine system performance – and disables it to prevent interrupt latencies.

Setup

The “User Account Control” (UAC) should be set to “Never notify” during setup.

Second reboot required

After setup finished and a reboot was done the first start of RTOS might - system depending - request (and require) a second reboot.

Non privileged user

The start without administrator rights may fail if UAC is enabled.

Windows file protection

If UAC is enabled Windows may redirect changes made to files below “C:\Program Files”. This means if you edit a .config file in the installation folder the changes may not be used. Changes can be verified by printing the file from the command line (“type”).

Watchdog-Bluescreen

Running RTOS on a shared core with Windows SMP might cause a “CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT” blue screen if not enough CPU time is remaining for Windows.

Multi-SMP

Using Windows SMP and RTOS SMP in combination may increase latency.

The MiniBSP does currently not support this feature.

Uninstall

Windows "FirstMegabytePolicy" will be reconfigured to "UseAll" this will not be undone at uninstall.

You can use “bcdedit –deletevalue firstmegabytepolicy” to remove the entry if it is not required by another program.

Setup may show an empty list of applications which should be closed because some files are in use. Ignore can be used to continue.

Using 32bit RtosLib API on 64bit systems

RtosStart() and RtosStartEx() can’t be used by a 32bit process on a 64bit system:

The Windows function “CM_Get_First_Log_Conf” is required for interrupt conflict checks. Starting with Windows 8 only the 64bit version is available on a 64bit system.

RtosDevice() can’t be used by a 32bit process on a 64bit system – this is a limitation of Windows device installations.

x2APIC mode

x2APIC mode is currently not supported. Windows can be prevented using this mode calling “bcdedit.exe /set {current} x2apicpolicy disable”.

Memory Usage

On some PC it might not be possible to use memory above 2GB for RTE.

Microsoft Virtual PC

LxWin cannot be used together with Microsoft Virtual PC.

Setup

Running setup on a debug enabled Windows (option “/debug”) might result in an exception. If debug is enabled, but no kernel debugger connected this results in a system freeze.

Hibernate/Standby

Windows Hibernate and Standby are not supported with LxWin.

IdleOs

IdleOs is not supported. “IdleOs” is for performance measures – do not mix with “IdleTask” which is required for shared core handling.

Debug Enabled Windows

Using LxWin on a debug enabled Windows (option “/debug”) might result in an exception. If debug is enabled, but no kernel debugger connected this results in a system freeze.

Profiling under Windows

When using profiling under Windows, you may experience longer interrupt latency times in the real-time execution context when running the RTOS in shared mode.

RtosPnp Driver Update

While LxWin is running it is not allowed to change devices assigned to the RTOS (e.g. activate or deactivate the driver in the Windows Device Manager).

Multi purpose shared memory

Currently no consistency checks of the multi purpose shared memory configuration exists (section [SharedMemory\MyShm] in the config file). Faulty configurations can cause undefined behavior.

Framework

vmfProcessorGetCpuId masks MTRR and MCA capability bits regardless of their real value.