How to configure system failure and recovery options in Windows

I. Introduction

You can configure the operation performed by windows in the event of a system error (also known as an error check, system crash, severe system error, or stop error. You can configure the following operations:

• Write events to system logs.
• Alarm to the Administrator (if the management alarm function is set ).
• Dump system memory content to a file for debugging by advanced users.
• Automatically restart the computer.

You must log on as an administrator or a member of the Administrator group to complete this process. If your computer is connected to the Internet, the Network policy setting may prevent you from completing this process.

2. configure system faults and recovery options in details

You can use the system control panel to configure system failure and recovery options. IT professionals can also modify system failure and recovery settings on a local or remote computer by modifying the values in the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ crashcontrol

In the following steps, the registry value is provided for each option and an example command line is provided for accessing Windows Management Instrumentation (Wmi) by using the command line utility (wmic.exe) to modify the options on the local computer. For more information, see the additional information provided in this section for IT professionals. To configure system failure and recovery options, follow these steps:

1. Right-click my computer and then click Properties ".
2. Click the "advanced" tab, and then under "Start and fault recovery", click "set" (or "Start and recover from fault ").
3. Under System Fault, click to select the check box corresponding to the operation you want windows to perform in the event of a system error:
   • The "Write events to system logs" option specifies that event information is recorded in system logs. This option is enabled by default. You cannot disable this function on a computer running Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 series operating systems. Windows always writes event information to system logs. To disable this option by modifying the registry on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 Professional-based computer, Set
     LogeventDWORD value is set0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set writetosystemlog = false

   • If you have configured a management alarm, the send management alarm option notifies the administrator of system errors. This option is enabled by default. To disable this option by modifying the registry, SetSendalertDWORD value is set
     0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set sendadminalert = false

     For additional information about how to set alerts, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

     310490
     (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310490/) how to set administrative alerts in Windows XP
   • The "Auto restart" option specifies that Windows automatically restarts your computer. This option is enabled by default. To disable this option by modifying the registry, SetAutoRebootDWORD value is set
     0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set AutoReboot = false

4. Under "Write debugging information", select the type of information you want windows to record in the memory dump file when the computer stops unexpectedly:
   • (None)Option does not record any information in the memory dump file. To modify the Registry to specify that you do not want windows to record information in the memory dump file, Set
     CrashdumpenabledDWORD value is set0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debuginfotype = 0

   • Small memory dumpOption to record the minimum number of information to help identify the problem. This option requires a paging file of at least 2 Mb on the boot volume of the computer and specifies that a new file is created for windows every time the system stops unexpectedly. The historical records of these files are stored inSmall dump directory(% SystemRoot % \ minidump. In Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, small memory dump files are used for Windows Error Reporting. To modify the Registry to specify a small memory dump file
     CrashdumpenabledDWORD value is set3. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debuginfotype = 3

     To modify the Registry to specify that you want to use the D: \ minidump folder as the small dump directory, SetMinidumpdirThe extensible string value is set
     D: \ minidump. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set minidumpdirectory = 3

   • Core Memory DumpOption only records the core memory. This option stores more information than a small memory dump file, but it takes less time to complete the dump than a full memory dump file. This file is stored inDump FileLocation specified in the box (default: % SystemRoot % \ Memory. DMP), and if the "overwrite any existing file" check box is selected, all previous core or full memory dump files will be overwritten. If this option is set, a paging file must be large enough to start the volume. The required size depends on the number of Ram resources on your computer (the maximum available space required for core memory dump on a 32-bit system is
     2 GB and 16 MB; but on 64-bit systems, the maximum available space required for core memory dump is the size of Ram plus 128 MB ). The following table provides guidance on the size of paging files:
     Collapse the table and expand the table.

     Ram size	The paging file cannot be smaller
     256 MB-1,373 MB	The ram size is 1.5 times
     1,374 MB or larger	32-bit system: 2 GB plus 16 MB 64-bit system: Ram size plus 128 MB

     To modify the Registry to specify the core memory dump fileCrashdumpenabledDWORD value is set2. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debuginfotype = 2

     To modify the Registry to specify that you want to use the D: \ dump \ mem. dmp file as the memory dump file, SetDumpfileThe extensible string value is set
     D: \ dump \ mem. dmp. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debugfilepath = D: \ dump \ mem. dmp

     To modify the Registry to specify that you do not want to overwrite any previous core or full memory dump files, SetOverwriteDWORD value is set
     0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set overwriteexistingdebugfile = 0

   • Full memory dumpOption to record the content in the system memory when the computer unexpectedly stops. This option is unavailable on a computer with 2 GB or more RAM. For other information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 274598
     (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/274598/) full memory dump is not available on a computer with 2 GB or more RAM

     If this option is selected, the boot volume must have a large enough paging file to accommodate all physical Ram plus 1 MB capacity. This file is stored inDump FileLocation specified in the dialog box (% SystemRoot % \ Memory. dmp by default ).

     A full memory dump file requires additional space, because windows also writes a header in addition to the memory content. The header contains a Failover signature and specifies the value of some core variables. The header information does not need the whole MB space, but Windows uses MB as the increment to determine the size of the paging file.

     To modify the Registry to specify that you want to use a full memory dump fileCrashdumpenabledDWORD value is set1. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debuginfotype = 1

     To modify the Registry to specify that you want to use the D: \ dump \ mem. dmp file as the memory dump file, SetDumpfileThe extensible string value is set
     D: \ dump \ mem. dmp. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set debugfilepath = D: \ dump \ mem. dmp

     To modify the Registry to specify that you do not want to overwrite any previous core or full memory dump files, SetOverwriteDWORD value is set
     0. For example, enter the following information at the command prompt and press Enter:

     WMIC recoveros set overwriteexistingdebugfile = 0.

   Note:: If you contact Microsoft Product Support for a stop error, they may ask youWrite debugging informationOption to generate a memory dump file. For additional information about these Windows Memory Dump File Options, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   254649
   (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254649/) Windows Storage Device dump options Overview

Additional information for IT professionals

The example command in the previous step uses wmic.exe to configure system failure and recovery options in the Windows registry. Wmic.exe is included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is not included in Windows 2000, but you can run wmic.exe on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003-based computers, this allows you to set system failure and recovery settings on Windows 2000-based remote computers. Windows 2000-based computers are not supported
DebuginfotypeAttribute. For more information about wmic.exe, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290216
Windows Management Instrumentation command line utilities (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290216/)

To view system failure and recovery settings on the Local Computer, type WMIC recoveros at the command prompt and press Enter. To view the system fault and recovery settings of a remote computer on the LAN, Type
WMIC/node :"Computer Name"Recoveros, and then press Enter. Note: To successfully use these wmic.exe command line examples, you must use a user account with administrative permissions on this computer to log on. If you do not use a user account with administrative permissions on this computer to log on, use/user:User NameAnd/password:PasswordSwitch.

You can also use the registry editor or other utilities to edit these registry values on Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003-based computers. For additional information about editing the Windows registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756
(Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/) how to back up, edit, and restore registry 2003 in Windows XP and Windows Server 322755
(Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322755/) how to back up, edit, and restore the Registry Back to Top in Windows 2000

• To use the dump file function, your paging file must be on the boot volume. If you move the paging file to another volume, you must migrate it back to start the volume before using this function.
• If you set the "core memory dump" or "full memory dump" option and select the "overwrite any existing file" check box, Windows will always write the same file name. To save each dump file, click to clear the overwrite any existing file check box and change the file name after each stop error occurs.
• If you click to clear the "Write events to system logs" and "Send management alarms" check boxes, you can save some memory. The memory saved varies with the computer, but these functions generally require 60 to 70 KB of memory.
• For additional information about how to configure your computer to generate a dump file for testing, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 244139
  (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244139/) Windows functionality allows you to generate memory. dmp files with a keyboard
• For other information about the tool that can be used to read small memory dump content, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 315263
  (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263/) read small memory dump files that Windows XP can create for debugging
• For other information about how to determine the cause of the stop message before contacting Microsoft Product Support, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 314103
  (Http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314103/) Preparations for contacting Microsoft after receiving the stop message on the blue screen