$LabMice.net - The Windows 2000\XP\.NET Resource Index$
Home \| About Us \| Search	Last Updated December 10, 2003

Troubleshooting
Where to Start
General Guides
Boot.ini files
Boot & Startup Issues
Emergency Repair Disks
Error Codes
Event Logging
Dr Watson
Hang Conditions
How to Guides
Memory Dumps
Memory Leaks
Performance Tuning
Recovery Console
Task Manager
Technical Articles
Win2k Install Bugs
WinNT Upgrade Bugs
Win9x Upgrade Bugs

Related Resources
Hardware Guides
Interoperability
Printer Mgmt
Registry
Service Packs
Utilities

Dr Watson for Windows 2000

Dr. Watson for Windows 2000 which is used to diagnose a program error for a computer running Windows 2000. A text file (Drwtsn32.log) is created whenever an error is detected, and can be used by support personnel to determine the root cause of the problem. You also have the option of creating a crash dump file, which is a binary file that a programmer can load into a debugger. If a program error occurs, Dr. Watson will start automatically. To start Dr. Watson, click Start, click Run, and then type drwtsn32. To start Dr. Watson from a command prompt, change to the root directory, and then type drwtsn32.

Where to Start...

Dr Watson Log File Overview
An analysis of the log file format and how to interpret the data. Source: Windows 2000 Online Documentation

Dr. Watson options
You can use the Dr. Watson for Windows 2000 dialog box to change the behavior of Dr. Watson. The data that you specify is stored in \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DrWatson Source: Windows 2000 Online Documentation

Setting up Dr. Watson
Dr. Watson (Drwtsn32.exe) is installed in your system folder when you set up Windows 2000. The default options are set the first time Dr. Watson runs, which can be either when a program error occurs or when you start Dr. Watson yourself. Source: Windows 2000 Online Documentation

Articles worth reading...

How to Disable Dr. Watson for Windows NT
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 188296 - This article describes how to disable and re-enable the Dr. Watson program for Windows NT.

Troubleshooting: Common Problems

Dr. Watson Causing Fault in USER32
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 175875 - When a program is running on a computer running Windows NT Server, it may at times raise an exception for any of a number of reasons. Ordinarily, an exception like this calls the Dr. Watson system utility which then captures the exception,

Dr Watson Error Message in Services.exe When You Use IPconfig.exe with the /displaydns Switch
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 262637 - When you run Ipconfig.exe with the display DNS switch (/displaydns), if the cache has a large number of entries, Services.exe may generate a Dr.Watson error message. This symptom has been noted on configurations with Domain Name Resolution

Dr. Watson Error Message Occurs When Renaming or Deleting a Folder Using Explorer
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 275470 - When you rename or delete a folder using Microsoft Windows Explorer, a Dr. Watson error occurs and you receive the following message:

Dr. Watson May Not Create a User.dmp File for an Application Error
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 275886 - When an access violation occurs as the result of an invalid instruction pointer, a User.dmp file may not be created.

Using Asterisk for Preferred Server in NetWare Client Configuration Causes Dr. Watson Error Message in Services.exe
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 260549 - Using an asterisk (*) for the preferred server in the NetWare client configuration causes the following error message:

This site and its contents are Copyright 1999-2003 by LabMice.net. Microsoft, NT, BackOffice, MCSE, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation in no way endorses or is affiliated with LabMice.net. The products referenced in this site are provided by parties other than LabMice.net. LabMice.net makes no representations regarding either the products or any information about the products. Any questions, complaints, or claims regarding the products must be directed to the appropriate manufacturer or vendor.