Solved How to open .dmp files with WinDbg

Is it possible to open .dmp files by double clicking on them? I've associated them with WinDbg.exe but they don't open - I get the error below. I can only open them with ctrl + D. Is it possible?

Yes. All you need to do is to run these two commands. Case sensitivity is important.

chdir /d C:\YOURWINDBGFOLDERHERE

windbg -IA

Excellent. Thanks.

You're welcome.

Are you doing this because you're interested in solving BSODs on the forum? Just curious, because I wouldn't mind explaining more in detail about certain things, so you are able to understand how and why about it - when doing them.

Also, in Windbg before any crash dump is opened - you need to set symbol path well.

File | Symbol Path

Put this: SRV*C:\SymCache*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

You can change C:\Symcache to any folder on the machine or any networked folder as well. I do debugging from 3 or 4 different machines here, and set the symbols so that they are all accessed from one location/machine, using a mapped drive. The folder can grow quite large and there's no need to have a copy on all machines taking up space. Mine is current 754 MB and that's mostly only Win 7 and 8 - I haven't debugged XP or Vista in quite some time.

I'm away to go before I can answer them on the Forum - but that is the idea yes.

I've got the symbol path set. At the moment I'm only as far as clicking on !analyze -v and then looking into the module name. From this I found VirtualBox didn't work with bridged networking at 8.1 on my system but only by looking up the module name on google and finding others had the same problem.

I'd like to understand more what to look at if you can suggest anything.

The basics are so simple it will warp your mind lol.

All you do is type lmsmtn command and press Enter.

Anything older than mid 2012 needs to be updated or removed. Certain things automatically need to be uninstalled without exception such as LogMeIn, Motionjoy, BlueStacks, Daemon Tools - a few others.

To get more info on a module (another way to say a driver shown) - this is the command:

lmvm driver

As an example:

lmvm atikmdag <<< For AMD video driver atikmdag.sys

When video or DX is cause of crash, always suggest default clock speeds because that is #1 culprit (overclocking) - and other drivers can affect, so always update others too.

Killer gaming LAN always without exception needs to be fixed like this:

MSI USA

When Windows operating system components are shown to be of fault or even just in all BSODs regardless, the 3rd party antivirus/security should be removed and Defender used instead. Defender is the only antivirus that cannot crash Windows.

When there is a networking issue, then 3rd party firewall and other poor software needs to be removed, like Networkx, Hamachi, VPN software etc... in addition to updating the driver(s) themselves for the adapter(s). You can see the drivers and after some time, you'll get used to them all. It will become second nature.

Thanks for that. I'm going to follow the BSOD threads and see what I come up with and if it is the same.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending how you look at it) my system doesn't crash. Probably because I almost never install anything.

Cool. You're welcome.

For learning purposes (and to really see your system well) you can initiate a BSOD purposely and it is even a supported method:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff545499(v=vs.85).aspx

Great info MasterChief.
I'm reading/following for a longtime the BSOD threads you are solving with great interest.
BSOD are very intruiging and with your info here it is getting a little more understandable.

I use Bluescreenview to read the dmp files and try to find the reason of the bsod and wait for your analysis, so i can compare them with your answers/solution.

Is Bluescreenviewer any good or are there better programs for this task.

Bluescreenviewer and any other 3rd party crash dump analysis software (that I'm aware of anyway) are all like - trying to find right words - um, amateur-helping-hope-to-find-a-good-answer-but-mostly-never-no kind of software. hah I wouldn't say they're useless though. They are ok, I guess.

WinDBG is the professional debugging tool as described above. It is made directly by Microsoft and can be obtained on this page if you scroll down a little more than half way:

Windows Driver Kit (WDK) and Debugging Tools for Windows (WinDbg) downloads

Thanks for the info.
Gonna checked it out.

Another great tip for looking up driver information is to use Sysnative's Driver Reference Table. The website has a long list of drivers along with a link to the update site.

Check it out... Driver Reference Table -

All you do is copy & paste the driver your looking for to the end of the url.

Like this... Driver Reference Table - npf.sys

ectech said:

Another great tip for looking up driver information is to use Sysnative's Driver Reference Table. The website has a long list of drivers along with a link to the update site.

Check it out... Driver Reference Table -

All you do is copy & paste the driver your looking for to the end of the url.

Like this... Driver Reference Table - npf.sys

Click to expand...

Good tip! BTW, it appears the maintainer of that site is also a prestigious member of our forum too!

my2cents said:

Good tip! BTW, it appears the maintainer of that site is also a prestigious member of our forum too!

Click to expand...

usasma is a very knowledgeable guy, he has helped me with a number of issues over the years.

ectech said:

my2cents said:

Good tip! BTW, it appears the maintainer of that site is also a prestigious member of our forum too!

Click to expand...

usasma is a very knowledgeable guy, he has helped me with a number of issues over the years.

Click to expand...

+1 to that!

my2cents said:

ectech said:

my2cents said:

Good tip! BTW, it appears the maintainer of that site is also a prestigious member of our forum too!

Click to expand...

usasma is a very knowledgeable guy, he has helped me with a number of issues over the years.

Click to expand...

+1 to that!

Click to expand...

Another +1. Like I was saying in another thread, he is the one that enabled me to get started with it all, and his resources are invaluable.

This is pretty much what EC has already shown (Sysnative) - it's also Usasma's personal website that he maintains:

Driver Reference Table (DRT)