Windbg Minidump Tutorial:Setting up & Reading Minidump Files

This is a tutorial on how to set up and read your minidump files when you receive a BSOD (blue screen of death) in the attempts to gain further insight as to the cause of the problem. First thing is first. Download the latest debugging tools from the Microsoft site. Search for “debugging tools microsoft” in Google.

Then go to Start/Start Search. Type i
the command <i>cmd</i>.

Then change directories to:

C:Program FilesDebugging Tools for Windows (x86)

by using the command:

cd c:program filesdebugging tools for windows (x86)

It’s case insensitive when using the <i>cd</i> command.

Then type in:
windbg.exe -z c:windowsminidumpmini061909-01.dmp -c “!analyze -v”

Your minidump file is located at C:WindowsMinidumpMini062009-01.dmp. It’ll be in the form “MiniMMDDYY-01.dmp”.

KERNEL SYMBOLS ARE WRONG. PLEASE FIX SYMBOLS TO DO ANALYSIS

If somewhere in the output of the Bugcheck Analysis you see an error like:

***** Kernel symbols are WRONG. Please fix symbols to do analysis.

Then it’s most likely that you are using previous and incompatible symbols or corrupt files or you don’t have the proper symbols at the specified location when the Windbg program was trying to analyze the minidump file. So what I did was open up the Windbg program located at C:Program FilesDebugging Tools for Windows (x86) (in Vista and I believe it’s the same location for XP).

SETTING THE SYMBOL FILE PATH VIA WINDBG COMMAND LINE:

This is an important step so ensure that your symbol path file is set correctly lest you get the kernel symbols are WRONG error or other types of errors. Now set the Symbol File Path (File/Symbol File Path) to:

SRV*e:symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

However, for some reason I found that in order to set the Symbol File Path in the “File/Symbol File Path” field you cannot change it directly with the field of “File/Symbol File Path”. So what I found that you need to change it through the Windbg command window by going to:

“View/Command”

In the bottom of the command window beside the “kd>” prompt type this in:

.sympath SRV*e:symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

The part between the two asterisks (*) is where the symbols from Microsoft’s servers will be downloaded to. It’s fairly large (approximately 22MB) so make sure that you have sufficient disk space.

SETTING SYMBOL FILE PATH IN THE ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE:

Alternatively, you can set it in your environment variable either in your system or user environment variable. To do this, click the WINDOWS KEY+e. The WINDOWS KEY is the key to the right of the LEFT CTRL key of the keyboard. This will open up Windows Explorer.

Then click on the “Advanced system settings” at the top left of the window. This step applies to Vista only. For XP users, simply click on the Advanced tab.

Then click on the button “Environment variable” at the bottom of the window.

Then click on the “New” button under System Variables. Again you can create the environment as a user environment variable instead.

In the “Variable Name” type:
_NT_SYMBOL_PATH

In the “Variable Value” type:
symsrv*symsrv.dll*e:symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

If you set the symbol file path as a system environment variable I believe you may have to reboot your computer in order for it to take effect.

OUTPUT OF WINDBG COMMAND

So the following is the output for my crash:

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.11.0001.404 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Loading Dump File [c:windowsminidumpmini062609-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: SRV*e:symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols;I:symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista Kernel Version 6001 (Service Pack 1) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal
Built by: 6001.18226.x86fre.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0x8201d000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x82134c70
Debug session time: Fri Jun 26 16:25:11.288 2009 (GMT-7)
System Uptime: 0 days 21:39:36.148
Loading Kernel Symbols
………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………..
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
……………………….
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck A, {8cb5bcc0, 1b, 1, 820d0c1f}

Unable to load image SystemRootsystem32DRIVERSSymIMv.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for SymIMv.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for SymIMv.sys
Unable to load image SystemRootsystem32DRIVERSNETw3v32.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for NETw3v32.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for NETw3v32.sys
Processing initial command ‘!analyze -v’
Probably caused by : tdx.sys ( tdx!TdxMessageTlRequestComplete+94 )

Followup: MachineOwner
———

0: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)
An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at an
interrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high.  This is usually
caused by drivers using improper addresses.
If a kernel debugger is available get the stack backtrace.
Arguments:
Arg1: 8cb5bcc0, memory referenced
Arg2: 0000001b, IRQL
Arg3: 00000001, bitfield :
bit 0 : value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operation
bit 3 : value 0 = not an execute operation, 1 = execute operation (only on chips which support this level of status)
Arg4: 820d0c1f, address which referenced memory

Debugging Details:
——————

WRITE_ADDRESS: GetPointerFromAddress: unable to read from 82154868
Unable to read MiSystemVaType memory at 82134420
8cb5bcc0

CURRENT_IRQL:  1b

FAULTING_IP:
nt!KiUnwaitThread+19
820d0c1f 890a            mov     dword ptr [edx],ecx

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR:  0xA

PROCESS_NAME:  System

TRAP_FRAME:  821126c4 — (.trap 0xffffffff821126c4)
ErrCode = 00000
002
eax=85c5d4d8 ebx=00000000 ecx=8cb5bcc0 edx=8cb5bcc0 esi=85c5d420 edi=ed9c7048
eip=820d0c1f esp=82112738 ebp=8211274c iopl=0         nv up ei pl nz na pe nc
cs=0008  ss=0010  ds=0023  es=0023  fs=0030  gs=0000             efl=00010206
nt!KiUnwaitThread+0×19:
820d0c1f 890a            mov     dword ptr [edx],ecx  ds:0023:8cb5bcc0=????????
Resetting default scope

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from 820d0c1f to 82077d24

STACK_TEXT:
821126c4 820d0c1f badb0d00 8cb5bcc0 87952ed0 nt!KiTrap0E+0x2ac
8211274c 8205f486 00000002 85c5d420 ed9c7048 nt!KiUnwaitThread+0×19
82112770 8205f52a ed9c7048 ed9c7008 00000000 nt!KiInsertQueueApc+0x2a0
82112790 8205742b ed9c7048 00000000 00000000 nt!KeInsertQueueApc+0x4b
821127c8 8f989cd0 e79e1e88 e79e1f70 00000000 nt!IopfCompleteRequest+0×438
821127e0 8a869ce7 00000007 00000000 00000007 tdx!TdxMessageTlRequestComplete+0×94
82112804 8a869d33 e79e1f70 e79e1e88 00000000 tcpip!UdpEndSendMessages+0xfa
8211281c 8a560c7f e79e1e88 00000001 00000000 tcpip!UdpSendMessagesDatagramsComplete+0×22
8211284c 8a86e0ab 00000000 00000000 889a0558 NETIO!NetioDereferenceNetBufferListChain+0xcf
82112860 8a6d341e 878689e8 e79e1e88 00000000 tcpip!FlSendNetBufferListChainComplete+0x1c
82112894 8a6084f1 86c440e8 e79e1e88 00000000 NDIS!ndisMSendCompleteNetBufferListsInternal+0xb8
821128a8 8fe3f0ee 87a092b0 e79e1e88 00000000 NDIS!NdisFSendNetBufferListsComplete+0x1a
821128cc 8a6084f1 87a07230 e79e1e88 00000000 pacer!PcFilterSendNetBufferListsComplete+0xba
821128e0 8fe516f7 88940c10 e79e1e88 00000000 NDIS!NdisFSendNetBufferListsComplete+0x1a
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be