Use the following steps to create a memory dump when requested by Technical Support:
NOTE: To create a full memory dump
(.DMP) file, you must configure the following settings
before you receive the error.
-
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
- Click Advanced system settings.
- Click Settings under Startup and Recovery. You see options to create either a Small, Kernel, or Complete memory dump, and where to save the file (default is: %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP).
- Select either Kernel memory dump or Complete memory dump, and save your settings.
NOTE: In some instances, a Complete memory dump is not an option to select. But, you can change this option in the registry. See the Complete Memory Dump section in this article for details.
The next time Windows has a blue screen error, the file %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP is created.
IMPORTANT: Technical Support can't use a Small memory dump (64 KB) for any purpose.
- Send %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP to Technical Support in a .zip file.
NOTE: We recommend that you use the Microsoft DumpChk.exe utility before you send the memory dump file for analysis. You can use the DumpChk command-line utility to verify that a memory dump file has been created properly. It also verified that the file is not corrupt. Download DumpChk.exe from the Microsoft website at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156280.
IMPORTANT: To get a Full memory dump, make sure that the
pagefile.sys is larger than the installed system memory and is on the boot partition. This action is needed because a full memory dump gets written to the pagefile first and later on into the specified dump file. For additional information about how to configure system failure and recovery options in Windows, see the Microsoft article at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307973. Key information extracted from the Microsoft article:
The Kernel memory dump option records only Kernel memory. This option stores more information than a Small memory dump file, but it takes less time to complete than a Complete memory dump file.
The dump file is stored in the Dump File box (the default is:
%SystemRoot%\Memory.dmp), and any previous Kernel or Complete memory dump files are overwritten if the option to overwrite any existing file is selected.
If you set this option, you must have a sufficiently large paging file on the boot volume. The required size depends on the amount of RAM in your computer. On a 32-bit system, the maximum amount of space that must be available for a Kernel memory dump is 2 GB plus 16 MB. On a 64-bit system, the maximum amount of space that must be available for a Kernel memory dump is the size of the RAM plus 128 MB.
Complete Memory Dump (works for Windows 7 too)
Do one of the following to create a Complete memory dump:
OR
