MustGather setup of error reporting tools for Windows


Dr.Watson tool setup

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.

  1. Start DRWTSN32.EXE from a command prompt. The Dr.Watson configuration dialog will be displayed and will look similar to the following:

  2. Set the Log file and Crash dump paths to the desired locations. Make a note of these values for later use.
    After a crash has occurred, the drwtsn32.log and user.dmp files will be retrieved from those locations.
  3. Ensure that 'Number of Instructions' is at least 10.
  4. Ensure that 'Number of Errors to Save' is at least 10.
  5. Select 'Full' for the 'Crash Dump Type' option.
    (This option will not appear for Windows 2000)
  6. Enable the following options (by selecting the associated checkboxes):
  7. We recommend that the following option be disabled so that IBM HTTP Server recovers as quickly as possible after a crash:
  8. Click 'OK' to save these settings.
  9. Enable Dr.Watson as your default Windows debugger by entering the following at a command prompt:
    drwtsn32 -i
    (This will make the necessary changes in the Windows registry.)