MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

Table 5-6 Recovery Options
Option Additional Information
Lesson 3 Configuring System Settings
■ Small Memory Dump The minimum amount of useful information
will be dumped. This option (the default setting)
requires a paging file of at least 2 MB on the boot volume of
your computer. A new dump file will be created every time the
system stops unexpectedly. The small dump directory stores a
history of these dumps. By default, the small dump directory is
%Systemroot%\Minidump. A small memory dump can be useful
when troubleshooting stop errors because it allows you to see
the actual stop error and often determines the driver causing
the error.
■ Kernel Memory Dump Only kernel memory is written to the
dump file. Depending on the amount of RAM on your computer,
you must have from 50 MB to 800 MB available in the paging file
on the boot volume. A kernel memory dump can be useful when
debugging more complicated system failures. Typically, providing
a kernal memory to Microsoft support technicians allows them to
determine the cause of most errors.
■ Complete Memory Dump Records the entire contents of
system memory when the system stops unexpectedly. You must
have a paging file on the boot volume large enough to hold all
the RAM on your system plus 1 MB. A complete memory dump
is quite large and usually contains more information than you
will find useful for simple debugging. You should enable this
option only when a Microsoft support technician requests it.
There are also two additional options:
■ Small Dump Directory Specifies the name and location
of the small memory dump file. By default, it is %Systemroot%\
Memory.dmp.
■ Overwrite Any Existing File By default, if you choose Complete
Memory Dump or Kernel Memory Dump, Windows XP
Professional always writes to the same dump file: Memory.dmp.
Clear this check box to prevent Windows from overwriting
Memory.dmp.
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The following requirements must be met for the Write Debugging Information recovery
option to work:
■ A paging file must be on the system partition (the partition that contains the %systemroot%
folder).
■ The paging file must be at least 1 MB larger than the amount of physical RAM in
your computer if you choose Complete Memory Dump.
■ You must have enough disk space to write the file to the location you specify.