Post-Mortem Debugging

Other versions of this page are also available for the following:

• Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

8/27/2008

Windows Embedded CE Error Reporting is a set of technologies that captures key information about the state of the machine at the time of a program crash and allows users to report the collected information. Post-mortem debugging makes it possible for you to analyze and debug the dump files captured by Windows Embedded CE Error Reporting. Using Windows Embedded CE Error Reporting, you can have a significant impact on the problems users actually experience.

By convention, dump files are uploaded to the Microsoft Watson web site, but you can also choose to keep a file locally. In addition, you can use the Error Reporting functionality to trigger a dump file at a when a particular event occurs.

The data from crash dump files and other error reports not only allows you to debug particular issues, but also helps you to spot trends. Historically, most failures are caused by very few code defects; fewer than 1% of the defects collected in crash dumps account for more than half of the total failures.

In This Section

• Generating A Dump From A Handled Exception
  Provides an example of how to create a special-purpose exception handler.

• Capturing a Dump File on a Standalone Device
  Describes the registry settings required to keep a crash dump report on a local machine rather than uploading it.

• Generating a Dump from a Watched Process
  Describes how to capture a dump file based on the operation of a watched process.

• Capturing a Dump File While Debugging
  Describes how to capture a dump file at any point.

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Related Sections

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• Error Reporting
  Provides overview descriptions of the Error Reporting system, instructions for implementation, and reference information

• Tools for Debugging
  Provides descriptions of debugging tools in Windows Embedded CE, links to specific instructions about using the tools, and reference information