Windows Error Reporting: Getting Started

Updated: October 27, 2010

Windows Error Reporting (WER) is a set of Windows technologies that capture software crash and hang data from end-users of Windows. Through the Winqual website, software and hardware vendors can access these reports in order to analyze, fix and respond to these problems. WER technologies were originally implemented in Windows XP/Windows Server 2003, and are still a part of current Windows releases.

Broad-based trend analysis of error reporting data shows that across all the issues that exist on the affected Windows platforms and the number of incidents received:

• Fixing 20 percent of the top-reported bugs can solve 80 percent of customer issues.

• Addressing 1 percent of the bugs would address 50 percent of the customer issues.

Vendors can use WER to view error reports with no recurring charges. This service is available for all products, even those that do not qualify for the Windows hardware or software logo—although we strongly recommend that you submit your products to the Windows Logo Program. Note: A class 3 VeriSign certificate is required to sign-up and use the service.

How to View Error Reports

Microsoft sorts error reports received through Windows Error Reporting into virtual "buckets." A bucket is a categorization of all instances of a specific error associated with a particular version of a driver, application, Windows feature, or other component.

You can use the Winqual website to view driver-specific, application-specific, or operating system-specific errors associated with your organization. Each error report provides details related to that bucket, and you can then request a file of the associated data.

To view error reports:

1. Establish a Winqual account.
   To protect companies from impersonation and to ensure that the error reports go to a representative from the correct company, the Winqual Web site requires your company to have a valid VeriSign ID.

   • Check with your Legal Department; your company might already have a VeriSign ID (also called a Software Publisher's Digital ID for Authenticode).

   • Check on Winqual to see if your company already has an account.

2. Accept the Windows Error Reporting Agreement.

3. Sign in to the Winqual site.

4. Click Windows Error Reports.

If you do not see your company's error reports, users of your products might not have submitted error reports to Microsoft. However, it might also be because Microsoft does not have sufficient information to match your company with error reports related to your products.

How to Map Files: Matching Error Reports with Your Company's Products

For you to be able to view error reports for your company's software, Microsoft needs to know which software associated with a specific bucket belongs to your organization. Making this connection in Windows Quality Online Services is referred to as "mapping files."

To associate particular error report buckets as belonging to your company:

1. Complete the Request file mapping or Request file unmapping forms on the Winqual Web site. (Use the resources listed at the bottom of this page to find up-to-date directions.)

2. When you are viewing the files associated with your organization, click a file name to add or remove a file from the list.

How System Manufacturers Can Obtain and Analyze System Data

System manufacturers can choose to include a special file, called a "marker file," on their systems. This file is used to help associate WER data with specific computer models, so that the manufacturer can view and analyze crash dumps from those systems.

To help system manufacturers identify and resolve issues related to kernel-mode error data, Microsoft can provide the following assistance:

• Driver vendor and other developer support contacts.

• Help facilitating discussions between vendors and manufacturers.

• Data mining and trend analysis, upon request.

Minidump files can be made available on a case-by-case basis, based on the signed terms of use agreement. Driver vendors may also choose to share their minidumps directly with specific OEMs.

Features of Windows Error Reports on Winqual

Home page on Winqual for Windows Error Reporting:

• Quick links to crash reports for applications and drivers

• Management charts with summaries of user-mode and kernel-mode crash data

Reporting and filtering features for kernel-mode drivers:

• Ability to view driver crashes by filename, link date, operating system version and edition, date range, and responses.

• Ability to search, sort, or jump to any crash bucket (category) from anywhere on the site.

• Ability to download cabinet (.cab) files that contain mini-dump files for a particular crash bucket. Your developers can use these mini-dump files to debug the problem.

• Ability to filter downloaded .cab files by filename, link date, device Plug and Play ID, OEM machine, and operating system version and edition.

Views, sorting, and management features for user-mode applications:

• Automatic mapping of application crashes to vendors

• Summary views for company, product, and impact summary:X% of crashes map to Y% of your customer issues

• Search and sorting capabilities

• Response Management Center

• Updated help for end users