Dynamics CRM Tracing

 

Back to basics article on how to collect traces from Dynamics CRM.

Often users tend to overthink things, instead of focusing on the basics when collecting trace logs for Dynamics CRM, particularly the traces that the application records during its execution.

How do I activate tracing for CRM?”. You will need to access the Windows Registry (regedit.exe) to activate tracing in CRM.

The KB article with this information is https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/907490

For a CRM implementation, you can find below a table with all of the locations you can enable tracing in CRM:

Component

Location of key in Windows Registry

Server

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MSCRM

Client

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MSCRMClient

Reporting Services

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MSCRMBidsExtensions

Email Router

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSCRMEmail

Data Migration

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\DATA MIGRATION WIZARD

   

 

Once the registry key has been located, below are the values that must be present:

Value

Value type (base)

Value to put in

TraceEnabled

DWORD (decimal)

0

TraceRefresh

DWORD (decimal)

1

TraceCallStack

DWORD (decimal)

1

TraceDirectory

REG_SZ

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Trace

TraceCategories

REG_SZ

*:Verbose

TraceFileSizeLimit

DWORD (decimal)

10

In order to start tracing set the TraceEnabled valu eto 1 and the TraceRefresh value to a value different than the one it currently has.

In order to terminate tracing set the TraceEnabled value to 0 and the TraceRefresh value to a value different than the one it currently has.

Traces should be collected as close as possible to the issue that you are trying to reproduce and not be enabled for a long period of time. This applies particularly to CRM systems where a large number of trace files can be generated from a high number of concurrent users, so out of business hours tracing is advised.

If the issue can’t be reproduced consistently, an activity log consisting of the activities performed by the user and the dates and times at which such activities were taken must be maintained, so that it will make it easier to correlate the activities with the information in the trace files.

 

Best Regards

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EMEA Dynamics CRM Support Team