To Configure Windows to Generate Crash Dumps

The native debug tool on Windows systems, Dr. Watson, allows you to generate crash dumps.

However, Dr. Watson does not allow generation of crash dumps on a running process. To generate crash dumps from a running process, install the Debugging Tools. The Debugging Tools are freely available from the Windows web site at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx.

1. You can use Dr. Watson for crash dumps generated when a process dies.

   1. Use the drwtsn32 -i command to make Dr. Watson the default debugger.

   2. Open Dr. Watson with the drwtsn32 -i command.

   3. Check all options.

   4. Choose the path where crash dumps are generated.

      When providing crash dumps, collect both the dmp and drwtsn32.log files.

2. Use the Window Debugging Tools to generate crash dumps of a running process.

   1. Make sure you install the latest version of the Debugging Tools and OS Symbols for your version of Windows.

   2. Set the _NT_SYMBOL_PATH for your environment.

3. Enable generation of a crash dump for your application.

   Get the process ID of the application using the tlist.exe command, then enable the crash dump.

   win-dbg-root\tlist.exe

   win-dbg-root\adplus.vbs -crash -FullOnFirst -p pid -o C:\dump-dir

   The adplus.vbs command tracks the application with process ID pid. The adplus.vbs command generates a dmp file in the event of a crash.

4. When collecting crash dump information, take the complete folder generated under C:\dump-dir.