Debug a Windows 7 minidump

On my new x64 Windows 7 computer I'm having problems with shutdowning the computer. During shutdown the computer hangs for approx. 10 minutes and then blue screens. Today I decieded to have a look at the minidumps that are automatically created by the OS.

Install debugging tools

1. Download the debug tools from here: Windows Driver Kit v 7.1.0
2. Unpack the ISO or burn it to a CD (I do unpack it with WinRAR)
3. Go to \Debuggers and install the correct version for your OS (in my case the setup_amd64.exe)

Debug a minidump

1. Create a symbols folder (I created D:\temp\symbols)
2. Start WinDBG.exe
3. File -> Symbol File Path...
   Enter "srv*d:\temp\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols" (change the bold to your directory)
4. File -> Open Crash Dump...
5. Wait for the WinDBG to take input and enter the following command
   "!analyze -show"
   "!analyze -v"
6. Look at the output to find the cause of the dump