Debugger dump file

Debugging dump files of optimized code can be confusing. For example, compiler inlining of functions can result in unexpected call stacks, and other optimizations might change the lifetime of variables. Dump files with heaps contain a snapshot of the app's memory, including the values of variables, at the time of the dump. Visual Studio also saves the binaries of loaded native modules in a dump file with a heap, which can make debugging much easier.

Visual Studio can load symbols from a dump file with a heap, even if it can't find an app binary. Dump files without heaps are much smaller than dumps with heaps, but the debugger must load the app binaries to find symbol information. The loaded binaries must exactly match the ones running during dump creation. Dump files without heaps save the values of stack variables only.

While you are debugging a process in Visual Studio, you can save a dump when the debugger has stopped at an exception or breakpoint. With Just-In-Time Debugging enabled, you can attach the Visual Studio debugger to a crashed process outside of Visual Studio, and then save a dump file from the debugger. See Attach to running processes. You can create dump files with any program that supports the Windows minidump format.

For example, the Procdump command-line utility from Windows Sysinternals can create process crash dump files based on triggers or on demand. See Requirements and limitations for information about using other tools to create dump files. In the Open File dialog box, locate and select the dump file. It will usually have a. Select OK. Sometimes the debugger and the code being debugged run on the same computer, but other times the debugger and the code being debugged run on separate computers.

In either case, the computer that is running the debugger is called the host computer , and the computer that is being debugged is called the target computer.

The Windows debuggers support the following versions of Windows for both the host and target computers. Symbol files store a variety of data that are not required when running the executable binaries, but symbol files are very useful when debugging code. If Windows stops working and displays a blue screen, the computer has shut down abruptly to protect itself from data loss and displays a bug check code. For more information, see Bug Checks Blue Screens.

You analyze crash dump files that are created when Windows shuts down by using WinDbg and other Windows debuggers. For more information, see Crash dump analysis using the Windows debuggers WinDbg. In addition to the debuggers, Debugging Tools for Windows includes a set of tools that are useful for debugging.

Skip to main content. I even tried to see hidden files but there is simply nothing. This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. Details required :.