How to Manually Initiate a Stop Error and Create a Dump File

To be absolutely certain that a dump file will be created when a Stop error occurs, you can manually initiate a Stop error by creating a registry value and pressing a special sequence of characters. After Windows restarts, you can verify that the dump file was correctly created.

To initiate a crash dump manually, follow these steps:

1. Click Start and type Regedit. On the Start menu, right-click Regedit and click Run As Administrator. Respond to the User Account Control (UAC) prompt that appears.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\i8042prt\Parameters.
3. On the Edit menu, click New, DWORD (32-bit) Value, and then add the following registry value:
   • Value Name: CrashOnCtrlScroll
   • Value: 1
4. Close the Registry Editor and then restart the computer.
5. Log on to Windows. While holding down the right Ctrl key, press the Scroll Lock key twice to initiate a Stop error.

You cannot manually initiate a Stop error on a virtual machine that has virtual machine extensions installed.