This article hasn't been updated for over 5 years. The information below may be obsolete.
Dr Watson info (WinXP and Windows 2003 only)
Dr. Watson is a program error debugger that detects and diagnoses program errors and creates User.dmpand DrWtsn32.logfiles to contain the diagnostic data.
The DrWtsn32.logfile is appended each time a program error occurs, whilst the User.dmpfile 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 |