Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

NTDEV
1

Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Soren

2

Google for “AlwaysKeepMemoryDump”

–
Maxim S. Shatskih
Windows DDK MVP
xxxxx@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago, and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file” and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk, but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Soren

3

If you have < 25GB of free disk space Win7 will actually delete the DMP
file:

http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?article=545

Try setting the AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 and see if that fixes the
problem.

\HKLM\System\CCS\Control\CrashControl\AlwaysKeepMemoryDump

-scott

–
Scott Noone
Consulting Associate
OSR Open Systems Resources, Inc.
http://www.osronline.com

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Soren

4

What does MEMORY.DMP have to do with the subject of minidumps? Minidumps will be created and they are mostly useless. A pagefile.sys volume with limited free disk space is a VERY BAD idea. When booting after memory has been written to pagefile.sys the file is renamed to memory.dmp and a new pagefile.sys is created.

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago, and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file” and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk, but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Soren

5

Thanks Maxim and Scott for the information. I certainly didn’t know about
this “new” 25 GB restriction. I’ve added the registry key and hopefully
that’ll force the dumps to be written.

Cheers,
Soren

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Scott Noone
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 10:57 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: Re:[ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

If you have < 25GB of free disk space Win7 will actually delete the DMP
file:

http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?article=545

Try setting the AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 and see if that fixes the
problem.

\HKLM\System\CCS\Control\CrashControl\AlwaysKeepMemoryDump

-scott

–
Scott Noone
Consulting Associate
OSR Open Systems Resources, Inc.
http://www.osronline.com

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Soren

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

6

Have you looked to see the size of your PageFile lately? That’s roughly the
size of your PageFile plus about 50%. My file is currently at 4GB, so should
I dump right now I’d have a 6GB dump file. At one gig, you can expect to
lose close to 3 gig to a dump; 1.5 to the dump file and at least 1 to a new
PageFile. I also believe that paging and dump files depend on contiguous
areas on the disc, which means that at 6GB, the chances your system can find
sufficient space to write a dump is slim to nada.

Who in their right mind only has 6GB of free space on their HD!?!?!? With
that picayune, miniscule actually, amount of free space on your disc you
have no room for create points in System Restore, and more than likely your
system is so fragmented that you spend half your time looking for a free
cluster. When I start exceeding 50% of HDD I start looking for things to
remove and if that doesn’t take me back to over 50% free I start looking for
a larger HDD.

Gary G. Little

H (952) 223-1349

C (952) 454-4629

xxxxx@comcast.net

From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Soren Dreijer
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 10:49 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Soren

NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

7

Interesting. Does this mean the minidump is now 256K?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Soren Dreijer
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 1:26 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

Thanks Maxim and Scott for the information. I certainly didn’t know about
this “new” 25 GB restriction. I’ve added the registry key and hopefully
that’ll force the dumps to be written.

Cheers,
Soren

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Scott Noone
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 10:57 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: Re:[ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

If you have < 25GB of free disk space Win7 will actually delete the DMP
file:

http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?article=545

Try setting the AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 and see if that fixes the
problem.

\HKLM\System\CCS\Control\CrashControl\AlwaysKeepMemoryDump

-scott

–
Scott Noone
Consulting Associate
OSR Open Systems Resources, Inc.
http://www.osronline.com

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Soren

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

–
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

8

Yup, last time I looked at the size of a mini-dump, it was really close to
that.

Gary G. Little
H (952) 223-1349
C (952) 454-4629
xxxxx@comcast.net

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Joseph M. Newcomer
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 8:30 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

Interesting. Does this mean the minidump is now 256K?

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Soren Dreijer
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 1:26 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE: [ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

Thanks Maxim and Scott for the information. I certainly didn’t know about
this “new” 25 GB restriction. I’ve added the registry key and hopefully
that’ll force the dumps to be written.

Cheers,
Soren

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Scott Noone
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 10:57 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: Re:[ntdev] Windows 7 not writing minidumps on BSODs

If you have < 25GB of free disk space Win7 will actually delete the DMP
file:

http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?article=545

Try setting the AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 and see if that fixes the
problem.

\HKLM\System\CCS\Control\CrashControl\AlwaysKeepMemoryDump

-scott

–
Scott Noone
Consulting Associate
OSR Open Systems Resources, Inc.
http://www.osronline.com

“Soren Dreijer” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
Hi all,

So, this is a problem I started noticing on my Vista box a long time ago,
and it still manifests itself on my Windows 7 x64 box.

I’ve set up kernel memory dumps and checked “Overwrite any existing file”
and am using the default dump path %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

However, whenever my system bluescreens (like it did this morning) and I
come back up, there is no MEMORY.DMP file anywhere.

I’ve seen this behavior on one of my friend’s computers as well, so I’m
wondering what could be causing this and how I can make sure the dump is
always being written. I currently have 6GB of space available on my disk,
but that should be enough for a dump I’d think.

Any ideas on how to “debug” this :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Soren

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

–
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by
MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

—
NTDEV is sponsored by OSR

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
http://www.osr.com/seminars

To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

9

“Mini” dumps are saved to Windows\Minidumps, not as MEMORY.DMP. Do you really mean “kernel” dump, or just are looking in the wrong place?

10

Does this mean that if you have LESS THAN 25GB free space and you set AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 that the dump WILL be generated?

Larry C

11

If the dump will fit, then yes it will be generated if AlwaysKeepMemoryDump
is set.

–
Don Burn (MVP, Windows DKD)
Windows Filesystem and Driver Consulting
Website: http://www.windrvr.com
Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/WinDrvr

wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
> Does this mean that if you have LESS THAN 25GB free space and you set
> AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD to 1 that the dump WILL be generated?
>
> Larry C
>
>
> Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> signature database 5394 (20100824)
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
>

Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5394 (20100824)

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com