How to open a memory.dmp file in Visual Studio 2012

Question

In previous Visual Studio versions it was possible to open a .dmp file. See link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fk551230(v=vs.100).aspx

But there's no option for VS 2012 in the version picker combo on that MSDN page. Empirically, I cannot open these files in 2012 Ultimate, the IDE tells me:

The is no editor available for 'C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP'. Make sure the application for the file type (.DMP) is installed.

Is the fact that I can't open it and that there's no documented support a coincidence?

Answer 1

You have to install Debugging Tools for Windows, which are part of the Windows SDK. You can install just a standalone Debugging Tools, you don't have to install the whole SDK. See for example these resources:

• Debugging Tools for Windows (WinDbg, KD, CDB, NTSD)
• Use Dump Files to Debug App Crashes and Hangs in Visual Studio
• How to Analyze a BSOD Crash Dump

You can download Standalone Debugging Tools for Windows or the whole Windows SDK.

If you need just to quickly inspect a minidump, you can use the great small utility BlueScreenView from Nirsoft. It's simple, doesn't even require an installation or any dependencies (you don't need Debugging Tools) and can display everything what a minidump contains. It's better for just finding out possible causes of BSOD, for any further debugging use Debugging Tools.