The Dr.Watson tool is no longer supplied with Microsoft Windows starting with the Microsoft Vista version of Windows. On the newer versions of Microsoft Windows, you will need to configure 'LocalDumps' on the system in order to generate the dump files needed for problem analysis and save them locally on the server. This setup step must be performed prior to recreating the problem scenario.
The LocalDumps configurations can be made to apply globally for all applications on the system or for specific applications. The instructions below will configure dumps specifically for the 'IBM HTTP Server' (IHS) application. If you already have global LocalDumps settings, those settings will continue to be in effect for other applications, but will be overridden for IHS by the settings below.
reg
' commands have been provided which
can be copied and executed at a Windows command prompt to add the entries. Both methods are described below.
'Start->All Programs->Accessories'
)
and selecting 'Run as administrator
'.
Copy and paste each of the following commands into the Administrator command prompt window, and then press Enter to
execute the command.
You should see a message like "The operation completed successfully."
after the completion of each command:
(Note: The third command assumes you created a dump directory named 'C:\crashdumps'. If you are using a different directory
then adjust that value as needed.)
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\httpd.exe" /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\httpd.exe" /v DumpFolder /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "C:\crashdumps" /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\httpd.exe" /v DumpType /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting
LocalDumps
' key under 'Windows Error Reporting
' if it doesn't already exist.
Windows Error Reporting
' and select 'New->Key'
, then enter
"LocalDumps"
as the key name.
httpd.exe
' key under 'LocalDumps
' if it doesn't already exist.
LocalDumps
' and select 'New->Key'
, then enter
"httpd.exe"
as the key name.
DumpFolder
' key under 'httpd.exe
' with a value of 'C:\crashdumps
'
(or whatever directory you created to store the dump files into)
httpd.exe
' and select 'New->Expandable String Value'
DumpFolder
' as the key name
C:\crashdumps
)
DumpType
' key under 'httpd.exe
' with a value of '1
'
(which indicates to generate a 'Minidump' dump file)
httpd.exe
' and select 'New->DWORD (32 bit) Value'
DumpType
' as the key name
Decimal
' option for 'Base
',
then enter '1
' for 'Value data
'.
Upon completion of adding the entries into the Windows registry, they would look like the following if viewed used the Windows Registry Editor (regedit):
http.exe.4359.dmp
')
and stored in the specified directory.
The default is a limit of 10 dump files, at which point the oldest dump file would be purged to make room for the newest.
The setting above will generate a 'Minidump' dump file. This type of dump was chosen because it is much smaller than a 'Full dump' dump
file yet will often contain sufficient info to help identify the problem.
On occasion, it may be necessary to obtain a 'Full dump' dump file. These dump files are larger but contain more information. The
size of the dump file will depend on the IHS configuration being used, how many modules are loaded, etc.
To obtain a 'Full dump' dump file, you will need to set the value of the 'DumpType
' entry to '2
'.
You can either use regedit to manually modify this entry (see above info for the location), or use the following technique to
execute a 'reg' command at a Windows command prompt to make the update:
'Start->All Programs->Accessories'
)
and selecting 'Run as administrator
'.
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\httpd.exe" /v DumpType /t REG_DWORD /d "2" /f
"The operation completed successfully."
after completion of the command.
By default, up to 10 dump files can be created at which point the oldest dump files will start being overwritten as new ones are created. If for some reason, there is a need to gather more than 10 dump files, the count can be adjusted as follows. Note that the provided command will double the dump count to 20. The '20' in the command can be adjusted to another value as requested or needed.
'Start->All Programs->Accessories'
)
and selecting 'Run as administrator
'.
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\httpd.exe" /v DumpCount /t REG_DWORD /d "20" /f
"The operation completed successfully."
after completion of the command.
The Dr.Watson tool supplied with Windows must be configured to save information about program crashes and hangs. This setup step must be performed prior to recreating the problem scenario.
DRWTSN32.EXE
from a command prompt. The Dr.Watson
configuration dialog will be displayed and will look similar to the following:
drwtsn32.log
and user.dmp
files will be retrieved
from those locations.Number of Instructions
' is at least 10.
Number of Errors to Save
' is at least 10.
Full
' for the 'Crash Dump Type'
option.
Dump Symbol table
Dump All Thread Contexts
Append to Existing Log File
Create Crash Dump File
Visual Notification
'OK'
to save these settings.
drwtsn32 -i