Using MakeCat to Create a Catalog File

You can use the MakeCat tool to create a catalog file.

You must use the MakeCat tool only to create catalog files for files that are not installed by using an INF file. If the files are installed by using an INF file, use the Inf2Cat tool to create the catalog file. Inf2Cat automatically includes all the files in the driver package that are referenced within the package's INF file. For more information about how to use the Inf2Cat tool, see Using Inf2Cat to Create a Catalog File.

Note

 For any kernel-mode binaries that are a boot-start driver, you should also embed a signature in the binary. For more information about this procedure, see Test-Signing a Driver through an Embedded Signature.

To create a catalog file, you must first manually create a Catalog Definition File (.cdf) that describes the catalog header attributes and file entries. Once this file is created, you can then run the MakeCat tool to create a catalog file. The MakeCat tool does the following when it processes the .cdf file:

• Verifies the list of attributes for each file that is listed in the .cdf file.

• Adds the listed attributes to the catalog file.

• Generates a cryptographic hash, or thumbprint, of each of the listed files.

• Stores the thumbprint of each file in the catalog file.

This topic describes how to create a .cdf file for the 64-bit kernel-mode binary files of the ToastPkg sample driver package. Within the WDK installation directory, these binary files are located in the src\general\toaster\toastpkg\toastcd\amd64 directory.

To create a .cdf file for the ToastPkg sample driver package, do the following:

1. Start Notepad and copy the text from the following sample. It contains the list of files to be cataloged, along with their attributes.

   [CatalogHeader]
   Name=tstamd64.cat
   PublicVersion=0x0000001
   EncodingType=0x00010001
   CATATTR1=0x10010001:OSAttr:2:6.0
   [CatalogFiles]
   <hash>File1=amd64\toaster.pdb
   <hash>File2=amd64\toaster.sys
   <hash>File3=amd64\toastva.exe
   <hash>File4=amd64\toastva.pdb
   <hash>File5=amd64\tostrcls.dll
   <hash>File6=amd64\tostrcls.pdb
   <hash>File7=amd64\tostrco2.dll
   <hash>File8=amd64\tostrco2.pdb
   

2. Save the file as tstamd64.cdf in the same folder as the driver package. Note  When building a driver for multiple platforms, create a separate catalog file for each platform.

The following command line shows how to create a catalog file through the MakeCat tool by using the tstamd64.cdf file:

makecat -v tstamd64.cdf

After you run the tool, a file that is named tstamd64.cat is created.

For more information about the MakeCat tool and its command-line arguments, see the Using MakeCat website.

For more information about how to use the MakeCat tool, see Creating a Catalog File for a Non-PnP Driver Package.