c# - Generating .NET crash dumps automatically

Question

I know how to generate Crash Dump files with ADPlus or DebugDiag, but I'm wondering if there is a way to do this on a customer's computer without installing these tools... specifically, I would like to be able to configure my application (using a registry value, for example) to generate a crash dump in the case of a critical failure. More specifically, I need to be able to do this from a C# application, but I don't mind P/Invoke'ing if necessary. Thanks!

Answer 1

You can configure Windows Error Reporting (WER) to create a crash dump in a specific directory using the following registry script:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsWindows Error ReportingLocalDumps]
"DumpFolder"="C:\Dumps"
"DumpCount"=dword:00000064
"DumpType"=dword:00000002
"CustomDumpFlags"=dword:00000000

The dump will go into C:Dumps with a name that reflects the name of the process that crashed. DumpType=2 gives a full memory dump. DumpType=1 gives a mini dump. On 64 bit machines, you do not need to put these under the Wow32 nodes. WER only uses the non-WOW registry key specified above.

Depending on the type of crash, this method may not work. I have yet to figure out why or which crash types it doesn't catch. Anyone?