Minidump .mdmp files not created in Vista

[David Ching]

Hello, I am creating a tutorial on Minidumps to provide post-mortem
debugging in VS2005. I can create the .dmp files using DrWtsn32 in WinXP,
but in Vista, there is a new Windows Error Reporting (WER) and a new Control
Panel applet called "Problem Reports and Solutions".

When my app (deliberately) crashes by de-referencing a NULL pointer, a
problem report appears in this applet. However, it simply has the text:

---
Product
TODO: <File description>

Problem
Stopped working

Date
6/25/2007 7:05 PM

Status
Not Reported

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: CrashMFC.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.1
Application Timestamp: 46807450
Fault Module Name: CrashMFC.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.0.0.1
Fault Module Timestamp: 46807450
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00012e28
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.6
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 7224
Additional Information 2: 9b3ff3ebb7498eba68b19a3f1603c78e
Additional Information 3: b1db
Additional Information 4: 36abeff19c68a7a282576c883b7986ed
---

There is *supposed* to be a button called "'View a temporary copy of these
files", with the files memory.hdmp and minidump.mdmp listed, but these files
don't appear in this list nor on my hard drive at all. It seems Windows
isn't generating them. But I've seen them before, for crashdumps of other
apps.

How can I get these files to be generated?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363489.aspx
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363489.aspx discusses editing
the registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error
Reporting\Debug
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug

but I don't see any setting here that prevents the .mdmp file from being
created. Any tips would be surely appreciated.

Thanks,
David (MVP -Visual C++)

[David Ching]

Post by David Ching
There is *supposed* to be a button called "'View a temporary copy of these
files", with the files memory.hdmp and minidump.mdmp listed, but these
files don't appear in this list nor on my hard drive at all. It seems
Windows isn't generating them. But I've seen them before, for crashdumps
of other apps.
How can I get these files to be generated?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363489.aspx
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363489.aspx discusses editing
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error
Reporting\Debug
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error
Reporting\Debug
but I don't see any setting here that prevents the .mdmp file from being
created. Any tips would be surely appreciated.

The question was answered in this thread:
http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?postid=1782926&siteid=1

"You can force the system to always generate minidumps by enabling queuing
mode: Set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error
Reporting\ForceQueue (DWORD) to 1."

-- David