No Default Debugger Causes Application to Close Without Warning

ID: Q172779

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.51, 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Applications that are running on Windows NT Server or Windows NT Workstation, either 16 bit or 32 bit, mysteriously close with no warning.

CAUSE

There are several causes for this type of behavior.

The first cause of this symptom could be that the application crashed. When an application "crashes" in Windows NT, NT will attempt to load a specified debugger to log information about the crash. By default, Windows NT launches Dr. Watson to capture such crashes.

If the default debugger is removed or no debugger is specified, the system will attempt to launch the debugger, but since the debugger is no longer installed or specified, the debug launch will just quit, and the crashing application will die/"disappear" with no warning notice.

WORKAROUND

To ensure that you are using the correct debugger, check the following registry key:

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.

Start Registry Editor and locate the following Registry subkey in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree:
```
      \Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AEDEBUG 
```

For more information on this setting, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q121434 Specifying the Debugger for Unhandled User Mode Exceptions

Additional query words: debugref


Keywords          : nt16ap nt32ap 
Version           : WinNT:3.51,4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 25, 1999