Forcing a System Crash with the Power Button
A Bug Check 0x1C8: MANUALLY_INITIATED_POWER_BUTTON_HOLD manual system crash can be forced by pressing and holding the power button when the following registry value is set in the registry key shown:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
"PowerButtonBugcheck"=dword:00000001
To enable the manual system crash power button hold feature, run the following commands from an elevated command prompt:
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power /v PowerButtonBugCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f
If this registry value does not exist, the system must be rebooted for this change to take effect.
If this registry value does exist and the value is changed, the system does not need to be rebooted for the change to take effect.
The bug check occurs when the power button is held for 7 seconds, but released before the UEFI Reset occurs at 10 seconds.
When the feature is triggered the regular bug check Blue screen or Green screen is not displayed. Instead, you will see a black screen which displays Please release the power button. We just need a few more seconds to shut down and a percent completion indicator.
It is important that you release the power button once you see this screen. If you continue to hold the power button longer, then you may trigger the firmware hard power off timeout which is usually about 10 seconds. If this happens, the dump may not complete and can be corrupted.
On some systems such as ARM64 laptops, the firmware timer is shorter, so you must release the power button immediately after 7 seconds to prevent the hard power-off from interrupting the completion of dump.
This feature is available in Windows 10 1809 / Windows Server 2019 and newer.
Bug Check 0x11C8: MANUALLY_INITIATED_POWER_BUTTON_HOLD_LIVE_DUMP
Instead of rebooting the PC, it is also possible to create a live dump with a Long Power Button Hold (LPBH). For general information about live dumps, see Kernel Live Dump Code Reference.
To enable the Power Button Hold Live Dump feature the PowerButtonLiveDump value under following registry key is set:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
"PowerButtonLiveDump"=dword:00000001
To enable the Power Button Live Dump feature, run the following commands from an elevated command prompt:
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power /v PowerButtonLiveDump /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f
If this registry key does not exist, the system must be rebooted for this change to take effect.
If this registry key does exist and the value is changed, the system does not need to be rebooted for the change to take effect.
This feature is available in Windows 10 version 22000 and newer.
PowerButtonLiveDump Customization
The PowerButtonLiveDump registry value can be customized as below.
| Name | Length in bits | Offset from start | Meaning | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enabled | 1 | 0 | When set, power button live dump is enabled. | N/A |
| UserPages | 1 | 1 | When set, will request to capture User Mode memory in the live dump. | 0 |
| HypervisorPages | 1 | 2 | When set, will request to capture Hypervisor pages in the live dump. | 0 |
| Reserved | 1 | 3 | Reserved | N/A |
| TimeoutInSec | 4 | 4 | Specify the timeout value in seconds of when to capture the Live Dump File. Only values from 2 to 6 (including 2 and 6) are valid. If any other value is specified, the default timeout value, 5 seconds, will be used. | 5 |
| Reserved | 24 | 8 | Reserved | N/A |
For example, running the following command from an elevated command prompt will enable the PowerButtonLiveDump feature with UserPages included and TimeoutInSec of 2. Kernel will request to capture a Full Live Dump file when the power button is held for 2 seconds.
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power /v PowerButtonLiveDump /t REG_DWORD /d 0x23 /f
PowerButtonBugcheck and PowerButtonLiveDump Prioritization
If both PowerButtonBugcheck and PowerButtonLiveDump are configured and enabled on the same device, the PowerButtonBugcheck will occur when invoked, while the PowerButtonLiveDump will not.
Device Support for Long Power Button Hold (LPBH)
To support Long Power Button Hold, the device needs:
- A General Purpose I/O (GPIO) based Power Button
- Firmware to route the power event to the Windows Power Manager
- The bug check feature to be enabled in the registry
See also
Bug Check 0x11C8: MANUALLY_INITIATED_POWER_BUTTON_HOLD_LIVE_DUMP
Inside Show - Bugcheck 0x1C8 MANUALLY_INITIATED_POWER_BUTTON_HOLD
Feedback
Coming soon: Throughout 2024 we will be phasing out GitHub Issues as the feedback mechanism for content and replacing it with a new feedback system. For more information see: https://aka.ms/ContentUserFeedback.
Submit and view feedback for