Automatic Dump Files from Windows Vista

Windows XP was the last version of the Windows operating system to include Dr. Watson.  If your computer uses Windows Vista, you can follow these steps to collect an automatic crash dump.

1.   From Control Panel, double-click Problem Reports and Solutions.

You will see a window like this:

2.   In the left pane, click View problem history.

You will see a window that lists all known problem reports Windows has a record of, like this:

3.   Locate the problem report you are interested in and double-click it.

You will see a window that lists a summary (signature) of the problem like this:

Near the bottom of the window is a link “View a temporary copy of these files”. If you want to access the dump file automatically created when the problem occurred, click that link. A copy of Windows Explorer will open displaying the files that Windows archived (and compressed) when the problem occurred. The set of files is as listed in the above dialog. Note that VTSTraceAll.txt is also archived at the point of the crash.

The explorer window shows these files. memory.hdmp is the full user-mode dump file that you can open with VTS’s Source Debugger.  Do not worry about tidying up the temporary files. They will be automatically removed when you close the Problem Solutions and Reports dialog window.