How to configure complete memory Dump, also how to crash using keyboard

 Complete memory dump:

Please make sure that the machine is setup to get a complete memory dump: 

1) In Control Panel...double click the System Applet

2) Select the Advanced tab

3) Click the "Startup and Recovery" button

4) Under the "Write Debugging Information" section select:

"Complete Memory Dump" from the pulldown menu

If you don’t have complete memory dump option available in the list then please change the registry entry as below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

CrashDumpEnabled REG_DWORD 0x1 = Complete memory dump

5) Make sure a check mark is placed on:

"Overwrite any existing file"

6) Make sure you uncheck the options: Send an administrative alert and Automatically restart

7) Disable the option “Automatic Server Recovery (ASR)” feature in BIOS settings

8) Make sure that there is a paging file (pagefile.sys) on the System Drive and that it is at least 200MB more than the total RAM size (please have the initial and maximum size for pagefile set to same size and reboot).

9) Make sure you have enough space available on C:\ to accommodate Paging File size and Memory Dump. Else, change to location to another LOCAL drive where we have enough space. This can be done by specifying the dump location under System Properties – Advanced – Startup and Recovery Settings – “Dump File”

Second, configure the system to dump memory:

 

Option 1:

With PS/2 keyboards ATTACHED DIRECTLY TO THE SERVER (WITHOUT KVM), you must enable the keyboard-initiated crash in the registry. In the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters, create a value named CrashOnCtrlScroll , and set it equal to a REG_DWORD value of 0x01.

  

Option 2:

With USB keyboards, you must enable the keyboard-initiated crash in the registry. In the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\kbdhid\Parameters, create a value named CrashOnCtrlScroll, and set it equal to a REG_DWORD value of 0x01.

 

Steps to configure the system to crash using keyboard (for keyboard which does not have Scroll Lock Key):

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Open registry and navigate to registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt

Note: If keyboard type is USB, then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\kbdhid

 

Create a registry key under this called CrashDump

Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\CrashDump

(or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\kbdhid\CrashDump if keyboard type is USB)

Create following entries

Name: Dump1Keys

Data: REG_DWORD

Value: 20 (hexa decimal) (this is for Left CTRL Key in place of right CTRL key)

Name: Dump2Key

Data: REG_DWORD

Value: 3d (Hexadecimal)( this is for Space Bar in place of scroll lock)

 Once we configure this we need to restart the machine to apply the changes. (unplug and plug back in if the Keyboard is USB)

To trigger the system crash with above configurations, hold down Left CTRL key and press Space Bar key two times.

The system will bugcheck with following code.

       *** STOP: 0x000000E2 (0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x00000000)

If the system is configured for memory dump, memory.dmp will be generated with Bugcheck code E2 as above.