If you would like to be your own “Blue Screen of Death” sleuth, you need to know how to create and use minidump files.  Don’t count on Microsoft being available to decipher minidump files for you.

Step 1: Creating a Minidump File

A minidump file is a small record of the events surrounding a computer crash.  Most of the time, computers are set up to create these automatically, but one setting in particular often needs to be toggled.

• Go into My Computer and choose Properties.
• Find the Advanced or Advanced Systems tab or option.
• Go to Startup and Recovery.
• Under the System Failure section, make sure the first two options are checked but that the option to “restart automatically” is unchecked.
• Reboot the computer.

Step 2: Download debugging tools.

The information in a minidump file cannot be read as a simple text file.  In order to view the file, search online for Windows debugging tools or for Windbg.  Choose to download and install the program.

Step 3: Find the Appropriate Minidump File

Through Windbg, browse the hard drive for your minidump file.  They are conveniently labeled with the date they occurred and the number the error was that day.  Minidump101509-02.dmp would refer to an error on October 15, 2009, and is the second error of the day.  Recall the date of your last Blue Screen of Death message, and locate the proper message.

Step 4: Open and Read the File

Select the correct minidump file, and open it using Windbg.  Scroll to the bottom of the information to the line “Probably caused by:” and take note of the file at the end of this line.  This is the cause of your error.

Step 5: Fix the Error

Here you have a couple of options: you can either attempt this manually or let a registry cleaner do this for you.  You may be able to search for the file and replace it.  Alternately, you can fix the errors described in the minidump file with registry cleaning software.

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