Setting a Kernel Memory Dump in Windows 2003 Server

The topic of memory dump files was being discussed last night in a mailing list I read. When I mentioned that I set all servers I manage to use the Kernel Memory Dump when a system crash occurs, I was asked how to do that. I provided these instructions to the list, but thought it would make sense to include them here, too.

1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties (or open the System control panel).

2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Under Startup and Recovery, click the Settings button.
4. Under Write debugging information, change the drop-down list to Kernel memory dump. The full options are: (none), Small memory dump (64 KB), Kernel memory dump, and Complete memory dump.
5. OK the rest of the way out of the dialog.

Now you’ve got a smaller dump file to work with in case of a BSOD. The
“crashing” process is also shorter as the OS does not have to write as large a file to disk before restarting.