INT150 - Windows Internals Essentials

A two-day "short course" covering the most important aspects of how Windows works.
Level: Basic
Audience: Power users; I.T. professionals, system builders; device and platform engineers
Description:

This seminar provides a high-level understanding of the internal design and implementation of current Windows operating systems. It also covers key changes in the latest versions of Windows, Windows 8.1, Windows10, and the corresponding Server edition.

We will examine the overall operating system architecture and several key components, including application support, thread scheduling, memory management and protection, security, and I/O.

We also show how many of the internal aspects of the system’s behavior are exposed through various monitoring tools and utilities, including the key “SysInternals” tools. Wherever possible, these points will be demonstrated “live” on the instructor’s system.
Topics:
  • System architecture overview
  • Program execution environment
  • Universal Windows Platform
  • User mode memory management
  • Services and other background tasks
  • Kernel mode components and environment
  • Objects and security
  • Thread scheduling
  • Memory management
  • Input/output, storage, and networking
  • Bootstrapping and login
Prerequisites: Some experience using, administering, or developing for Windows operating systems; and familiarity with basic operating system concepts.
Operating systems supported: This seminar primarily targets Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Much of it is relevant to earlier versions.
Durations and formats: 2 days lecture only
Labs: This seminar is designed as a "short course" and as such is not offered with labs. We do perform frequent demonstrations that illustrate the principles discussed, and attendees are encouraged to follow along on their own laptops. Please see INT201, Core Windows Internals or INT250, Windows Internals Workshop if you are interested in a longer seminar that includes hands-on exercises and demonstrations.
Additional information:

Related Seminars

INT201, Core Windows Internals, is three days. It covers a similar set of topics but with more detail in many areas. It also includes time for hands-on experiments (labs). And for those looking for more even more detail and more hands-on time, please see INT250, Windows Internals Workshop (five days).