How to enable crash memory dump collection on Windows¶

We want to record a memory image (or dump) of the desktop client in case it crashes while running on Windows. This is also called a mini dump and can be recorded directly by the Windows system after configuration.

The goal is to enable analysis with support engineers of the root cause of the crash. To do that, we need to collect real information especially when the case is hard to reproduce or depends on local context.

Those mini dumps are never going to be shared with anyone and remain under the control of the end-user. This is necessary to prevent any data leak or privacy issues. Unless you share such a mini dump with a support engineer, everything stays on the local machine of the user and under their control.

Steps to Enable Crash Mini Dump Automatic Record¶

1. Install a specific build from which such analysis is possible (Windows system has restrictions on which builds can be analyzed). For currently existing technical limitations, this is not enabled or possible with existing release installers.

2. Configure the Windows machine to record crash with the mini dump:

   1. Open the Windows registry editor

   2. Navigate to this key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps. If it does not exist, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting and create a new key called LocalDumps.

   3. Create a new key called nextcloud.exe

   4. Create new values