Knowledgebase

Symptoms

I have a repetitive crash and support at PDF-XChange has asked me to send them a crash dump file.

Solutions

These Dump files can be very large, and unlikely fit into an email, if you have been asked by PDF-Xchange Support to send a dump file you should also be provided a secure file drop location to send it to.  If you have not, please ask the staff at support@pdf-xchange.com for one.

By default Local Dumps are disabled in Windows. We need to both enable them and set them to Full Dumps. 

1. Open the Registry Editor.

Follow the steps below to open the Registry Editor:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run command box.

2. Type regedit in Run window and hit enter.

3. Click Yes in User Control Window ****pop-up box.

2. Back up the Windows Error Reporting key.

Before making any changes to the Registry Editor, it is advised to back up the registry key you are going to edit. Below are the steps to take back up:

1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\.

2. Right click the Windows Error Reporting key.

3. Select Export and save the **.**reg file on desktop.

   

3. Create LocalDumps key.

Follow the steps below for the same:

1. Navigate to the location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting.

2. Select the Windows Error Reporting key and create a new key named LocalDumps if it is not there already:

   1. Right-click Windows Error Reporting.

   2. Select New and then Key.

   3. Name the key as LocalDumps.

      

4. Create registry values in the LocalDumps key.

Select the LocalDump key and create three registry values as mentioned below:

DumpFolder Registry Value

1. Right click in the blank area on the right side and select New > Expandable String Value

2. Name it as DumpFolder

3. Double click it and enter %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps in the Value data field

DumpCount Registry Value

1. Right click in the blank area on the right side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) value

2. Name it as DumpCount

3. Double click it and enter 10 in the Value data field

DumpType Registry Value

1. Right click in the blank area on the right side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) value

2. Name it as DumpType

3. Double click it and enter 2 in the Value data field

         

5. Collect crash dumps

Once you have followed the steps above, reproduce the crash of the software and collect the related .dmp file with the software name from %LocalAppData%/crashdumps.

To do so, you can go to Start > Run > %LocalAppData%/CrashDumps > OK

6. Upload dump files

If we provided you with a link to Upload the files to, please do so now, and then send an email to support@pdf-xchange.com letting us know it is present (if not, please email us to receive one such upload link).

7. (Optional) Stop logging crash dumps for PDF-XChange products

To stop saving crash dumps for PDF-XChange products simply remove the per application sub-keys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps 

If you have been asked to create a “Memory" or “Process” Dump please follow these instructions instead:  https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgebase/584-How-do-I-create-a-memory-dump-file-and-send-it-to-PDF-XChange-for-investigation