What does the WinDbg command prompt indicate?

I'm using WinDbg and am wondering what the WinDbg command prompt indicates. In my case, the command prompt reads

2: kd>

I assume the kd means I'm debugging in kernel-mode (as opposed to user-mode, see Getting Started with Windows Debugging). Is that correct? What would the prompt look like if I were debugging in user-mode?

Also, the 2: seems to indicate the current processor, since when I change the current processor to 0 using the command ~0s, the prompt also changes:

0: kd>

Is there an article or summary that explains the different formats the WinDbg command prompt can appear in and what the meaning is of the values shown in those formats?

1 Answer

I found the official documentation Using Debugger Commands by Microsoft. It contains a section explaining the Debugger Command Window Prompt. It explains:

• 2: kd> indicates kernel-mode debugging (kd) with the current processor being number 2.
• Examples of the prompt during user-mode debugging are 2:005> and 3:2:005>, where 005 is the current thread number, 2 is the current process number and the leading 3 is the current system number which is only shown in situations where the debugger is attached to more than one computer system.