Troubleshooting Crash Problem on Win32

The best way to find the crash is to equip your program with debugging info (for the Release mode) so that we can know exactly where the crash location is. A debugging info will not slow down your application, although it will add size to it, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Building Application with Debugging Info

The instructions here applies for Visual Studio 6:

• For all libraries, open Project Settings, then go to C/C++ General Tab, set Debug Info to Program Database.
• Then in the application project, open Project Settings, go to Link tab, enable Generate debug info.
• Rebuild all libraries and application

Now a .PDB (Program Database) file will be generated for the application.

Distributing Application

When distributing the application executable, the .PDB file (for the application) needs to be distributed alongside the application. Put the .PDB file on the same directory as the application.

Note that whenever the application is rebuilt, don't forget to update the .PDB file as well or otherwise the debugging information will not contain the correct information.

Testing if Crash Reporting Works

Before running the application with real usage, it's probably better to test if the error reporting works correctly.

Add a code somewhere to simulate a crash, something like:

  int *p = (int *)0;
  *p = 0;

It's probably best to place this crash generator code somewhere deep in the libraries to make sure that crash in the library is properly reported.

Checking the Crash Report

If Visual Studio is installed in the target machine, it will be executed when the application crashes.

Otherwise the crash info will be saved in Dr. Watson log. Open Dr. Watson application by executing drwtsn32.exe from Start Menu --> Run.. menu. The crash info should show where exactly the crash happens along with other useful information.