Dr Watson info (WinXP and Windows 2003 only)
Dr. Watson is a program error debugger that detects and diagnoses program errors and creates User.dmp
and DrWtsn32.log
files to contain the diagnostic data.
The DrWtsn32.log
file is appended each time a program error occurs, whilst the User.dmp
file is overwritten each time.
The location of these files is dependent on the version of Microsoft Windows you are running.
OS | File location |
---|---|
Windows NT | %systemroot% |
Windows 2000 | %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DrWatson |
Windows XP | %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson |
The following table provides a number of Dr Watson registry hacks.
HIV Key | Name | Type | Value |
---|---|---|---|
To turn off the Dr Watson debugger. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug | Auto | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 1 enable |
To change the folder for log files | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | LogFilePath | REG_SZ | |
The AppendToLogFile value controls whether to create a new log file or appends data to the old log. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | AppendToLogFile | REG_DWORD | 0 new 1 append |
The CrashDumpFile value controls the path and filename used when creating a crash dump file. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | CrashDumpFile | REG_EXPAND_SZ | |
The CreateCrashDump value controls whether it creates a crash dump file after an application crash. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | CreateCrashDump | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 1 enable |
The DumpAllThreads value controls whether if it should dump the contents of all threads from an application error. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | DumpAllThreads | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 1 enable |
The DumpSymbols value controls whether it should dump the contents of the symbol tables from an application error. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | DumpSymbols | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 1 enable |
The SoundNotification value controls whether to play a wav file when an application error occurs. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | SoundNotification | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 1 enable |
The WaveFile value specifies the path and filename of the wave file to be played. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | SoundNotification | REG_EXPAND_SZ | |
The VisualNotification value controls whether it displays a popup message when it encounters an application error. | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson | VisualNotification | REG_DWORD | 0 disable 0 enable |
There are various debugger utilities besides Dr Watson. To switch back to Dr Watson, should another debugger be enabled | |||
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug | Debugger | REG_SZ | drwtsn32 -p %ld -e %ld -g |