I want to examine a MEMORY.DMP (crash dump) file. What utilities do I use, and where do I get them from?

The main utilities that you use to examine the MEMORY.DMP file are DUMPCHK, DUMPEXAM and WINDBG. The trouble is that these utilities are re-released with each new version of Windows (and the symbol files are sometimes updated in a service pack), so you have to be careful where you source these files from. Luckily there is a superset of these tools that you can download for free from http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx. Microsoft maintains this site with the latest versions, so the download is always up to date.

Once you have downloaded and installed the "Debugging Tools for Windows 32-bit Version" from that URL then you will find you have the latest version of all of these files (and heaps of other crash-dump utilities) stored under C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows.

Hope this helps.

Paul Eddington.

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