Most of the people know when the Windows system is hung, it may generate a ‘memory dump file’ and the dump file normally is located under C:\Windows\ directory. This dump file is named as “memory.dmp” (this setting is set by default in Windows). This configuration is basically provided in-depth information on why the system goes down, and what is the cause of the system hung. For those technical support guys, sometimes you may need to deal with dump file and send it to service provider such as Microsoft for further investigation.
But how about programs that hung? Can I also do something for that, so that I got some ideas on troubleshooting? Or at least I got something that can send to the program’s support team on the hung errors? YES, you can do that! In order to do create a memory dump for a program, you will need to download a tool called ADPlus.
ADPlus is part of the component in Windows Debugging Tools. You can download this program via this website: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx
After that, execute the installer winsdk_web.exe. The installer will prompt a warning message if your computer do not equipped with .Net Framework 4.0. Just click on OK to proceed with the installation. During the installation, ensure that “Debugging Tools for Windows” option under Common Utilities is selected.
After the installation is done, you are ready to go. You will need to launch the ADPlus first before you execute the program you want to debug. Please refer to below simple steps to debug a program:
- 1. In order to start ADPlus, just open an command prompt, and browse to directory C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\
- 2. Launch the program that you want to debug
- 3. At the command prompt, type ADPlus -crash -pn "Process Name" -o C:\CrashReport
- 4. Simulate the crash of the program, and You Are Done! Just browse to the C:\CrashReport to get the dump file that generated by the ADPlus.
You will need to create a directory in your computer first before you issue a –o command, the ADplus will return error if the folder is not created (based on above scenario will be C:\CrashReport folder)
If you are interested and want to give a try, but you do not want to harm your program, you can go to Citrix website and download a tool called TestDefaultDebugger. This simple exe will basically simulate a program crash on the system. After you execute it, a warning message will prompt you to send error report to Microsoft… Oppss!! Here is the link: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX111901
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