Analyzing Crash Dumps

Introduction

Crash dumps contain a snapshot of an application’s memory at the moment it terminated unexpectedly. Analyzing them helps you uncover the root cause of a crash, reproduce bugs, and improve stability.

Generating a Dump

On Windows you can generate a dump using several tools:

• Task Manager → Details → Right‑click → Create dump file
• ProcDump – command‑line utility for custom dump collection.
• VS Debug → Save Dump As…

Analyzing with WinDbg

WinDbg is the primary debugger for dump analysis. Below is a basic workflow.

!analyze -v
!peb
!process 0 0
k
!heap -s

These commands reveal the exception, loaded modules, call stack, and heap usage.

Common Patterns

• Access violation – often a null-pointer dereference.
• Stack overflow – recursive calls without a base case.
• Out‑of‑memory – excessive allocation or leaks.