Crash Dump Files

By default, all Windows systems are configured to attempt to record information about the state of the system when the system crashes. You can see these settings by opening the System tool in Control Panel, and then in the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab and then click the Startup And Recovery button. The default settings for a Windows XP Professional system are shown in Figure 14-3.

Crash dump settings

Figure 14-3. Crash dump settings

Three levels of information can be recorded on a system crash:

  • Complete memory dump A complete memory dump contains all of physical memory at the time of the crash. This type of dump requires that a ...

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