Tools for minifilter development and testing
This page lists a few tools that are specifically for developing a file system minifilter. Minifilter driver developers are also encouraged to use other driver development tools available through the Windows Driver Kit (WDK).
Fltmc.exe Command
The Fltmc.exe program is a system-supplied command line utility for common minifilter driver management operations. Developers can use Fltmc.exe to load and unload minifilter drivers, attach or detach minifilter drivers from volumes, and enumerate minifilter drivers, instances, and volumes. In a command prompt with administrator privileges, type fltmc help to see the full list of commands.
Fsutil.exe Command
The Fsutil.exe program is a system-supplied command line utility that performs various operations on files. Developers can type fsutil file layout foo.md to pretty-print all the details of a file, such as its attributes, time stamps, streams, and so forth.
!fltkd Debugger Extension
The !fltkd debugger extension is provided in the Windows Debugging tools. Commonly used commands include:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| !cbd | The filter manager equivalent of !irp |
| !filter | Lists detailed information about the specified filter |
| !filters | Lists all attached minifilter drivers |
| !frames | Lists all filter manager frames and attached minifilter drivers |
| !instance | Lists detailed information about the specified instance |
| !volume | Lists detailed information about the specified volume |
| !volumes | Lists all volumes and attached minifilter driver instances |
In WinDbg, type !fltkd.help for a full list of commands.
Filter Verifier
Filter Verifier is an option in Driver Verifier that validates minifilter driver usage of filter manager functions. Filter Verifier is installed with the Filter Manager. Developers are recommended to always develop minifilter drivers with Filter Verifier enabled. You can activate the File System Filter Verification feature using the verifier.exe command on the command line.
For information on how to enable Filter Verifier and what it validates, see File System Filter Verification.