Knowledge Base

How to request Windows crash dump files

Introduction

If the operating system crashes, you may need to create Windows memory dumps. For detailed information on how to create full Windows memory dumps please see Creating Windows Memory Dumps.

(!) Only if you are not able to create full Windows memory dumps, please create small Windows memory dumps as described in this article.

Windows small memory dump (also called minidump or triage dump) contains the stop code and parameters, the list of loaded device drivers and the kernel stack that causes the crash.

If the product crashes, not the whole system, see Creating Dr. Watson Crash Dumps.

If the product hangs, see Creating a Userdump.

Description

To enable mini-dumps in Windows 2000/XP/2003 do the following:

• Right click on My Computer, choose Properties and go to the Advanced tab;
• Click Settings in the Startup and Recovery box;
• Choose Small memory dump in Write debugging information;
• Close all the dialog windows by clicking OK buttons;
• Reproduce the system crash;
• The small dump file will be created in the directory chosen in the Small dump directory box.
  

  

To enable mini-dumps in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 do the following:

• Right click on My Computer, choose Properties and go to the Advanced system settings;
• Hit Settings in the Startup and Recovery box;
• Choose Small memory dump in Write debugging information;
• Close all the dialog windows by clicking OK buttons;
• Reproduce the system crash;
• The small dump file will be created in the directory chosen in the Small dump directory box.
  

  

The %SystemRoot% value is the location of the operating system folder. The default path on a clean installation depends upon the version of the operating system. By default in Windows NT 5.1 (Windows XP) and newer versions (Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7) it is \WINDOWS. In Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000), Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT 3.1 it is \WINNT. In Windows NT 3.5x it is \WINNT35.

More information

See also:

• Creating a Userdump
• Creating Dr. Watson Crash Dumps
• Creating Windows Memory Dumps