59 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
59 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# How to get a process dump with Windows Task Manager
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## Introduction
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When tracking down the causes of process hangs, it is often helpful to
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obtain a process dump while the process is experiencing a hang. This
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article describes how to get a process dump with Task Manager on
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Windows. (To get a process dump for Thunderbird or some other product,
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substitute the product name where ever you see Firefox in these
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instructions.)
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## Caution
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The memory dump that will be created through this process is a complete
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snapshot of the state of Firefox when you create the file, so it
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contains URLs of active tabs, history information, and possibly even
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passwords depending on what you are doing when the snapshot is taken. It
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is advisable to create a new, blank profile to use when reproducing the
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hang and capturing the memory dump. Please ask for help doing this!
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## Requirements
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Windows
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: To get a process dump, you need to be using Windows Vista or above.
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A Firefox nightly or release
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: You need a Firefox version for which symbols are available from the
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{ref}`symbol server <Using The Mozilla Symbol Server>`. You
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can use any [official nightly
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build](https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/) or released
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version of Firefox from Mozilla. You can find the latest trunk
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nightly builds under
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[http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.o.../latest-trunk/](http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/).
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## Creating the Dump File
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Ensure that Firefox is not already running.
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### Run Firefox, reproduce the hang
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Start Firefox and perform whatever steps are necessary to cause Firefox
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to hang. Once the browser hangs, continue with the steps below.
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### After the hang
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1. Open Windows Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).
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2. Find Firefox.exe among the list of processes.
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3. Right-click Firefox.exe and select "Create dump file". Task manager
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should indicate where the dump file was written to.
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## See also
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- {ref}`How to get a stacktrace for a bug report <How to get a stacktrace for a bug report>`
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- [How to create a user-mode process dump file in Windows Vista and in
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Windows 7
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(MSDN)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/generate-kernel-or-complete-crash-dump#manually-generate-a-memory-dump-file)
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