Registers Window

The Registers window displays the registers and flags from the current target processor.

Opening the Registers Window

To open or switch to the Registers window, in the WinDbg window, on the View menu, click Registers. (You can also press ALT+4 or click the Registers (Alt+4) button () on the toolbar. ALT+SHIFT+4 will close the Registers window.)

The following figure shows an example of a Registers window.

The Registers window contains two columns. The Reg column lists all of the registers for the target processor. The Value column displays the current value of each register. This window also contains a Customize button on the toolbar that opens the Customize Register List dialog box.

Using the Registers Window

In the Registers window, you can do the following:

• The Value column displays the current value of each register. The value of the most recently changed register is displayed in red text.
  • To enter a new value, double-click a Value cell, and then type a new value or edit the old value. (The cut, copy, and paste commands are available to use for editing.)
  • To save the new value, press ENTER.
  • To discard the new value, press ESC.
  • If you type an invalid value, the old value will reappear when you press ENTER.
• Register values are displayed in the current radix and you must type new values in the same radix. To change the current radix, use the n (Set Number Base) command in the Debugger Command window.
• In user mode, the Registers window displays the registers that are associated with the current thread. For more information about the current thread, see Controlling Processes and Threads.
• In kernel mode, the Registers window displays the registers that are associated with the current register context. You can set the register context to match a specific thread, context record, or trap frame. Only the most important registers for the specified register context are actually displayed; you cannot change their values.

Toolbar and Shortcut Menu

The Registers window has a toolbar that contains a Customize button and has a shortcut menu with additional commands. To access the menu, right-click the title bar or click the icon near the upper-right corner of the window (). The toolbar and menu contain the following button and commands:

• (Toolbar and menu) Customize opens the Customize Register List dialog box, which is described in the following section within this topic.
• (Menu only) Toolbar turns the toolbar on and off.
• (Menu only) Dock or Undock causes the window to enter or leave the docked state.
• (Menu only) Move to new dock closes the Registers window and opens it in a new dock.
• (Menu only) Set as tab-dock target for window type is unavailable for the Registers window. This option is only available for Source or Memory windows.
• (Menu only) Always floating causes the window to remain undocked even if it is dragged to a docking location.
• (Menu only) Move with frame causes the window to move when the WinDbg frame is moved, even if the window is undocked. For more information about docked, tabbed, and floating windows, see Positioning the Windows.
• (Menu only) Help opens this topic in the Debugging Tools for Windows documentation.
• (Menu only) Close closes this window.

Customize Register List Dialog Box

To change the list of registers that are displayed, click the Customize button. The Customize Register List dialog box will appear.

In this dialog box, you can edit the list of registers to change the order in which registers are displayed. (You cannot actually delete a register from the list; if you do, it will reappear at the end.) There must be a space between register names.

If you select the Display modified register values first check box, the register whose values have been changed most recently appears at the top.

If you select the Do not display subregisters check box, subregisters are not displayed. For example, eax will be displayed, but not ax, ah, or al.

Click OK to save your changes or Cancel to discard your changes.

If you are debugging a multi-processor computer with more than one kind of processor, WinDbg stores the customization settings for each processor type separately. This separation enables you to customize the display of each processor's registers simultaneously.

Additional Information

For more information about registers and their manipulation, see Reading and Writing Registers and Flags. For more information about the register context and other context settings, see Changing Contexts. For more information about docked, tabbed, and floating windows, see Positioning the Windows. For more information about all techniques that you can use to control debugging information windows, see Using Debugging Information Windows.