Windows Error Reporting (WER) is a Windows function that captures the data of software crashes and can report this information to software vendors via Microsoft’s Winqual service. In this Windows Error Reporting series, I will explain how WER works, how you can access the information in WER files, and how you can disable Windows Error Reporting.

Windows Error Reporting has been available since Windows XP, although changes have been introduced in Vista and Windows 7. Whenever a Windows application crashes, a WER file is created, which contains valuable information that can help you analyze why the crash happened.

While software vendors have to sign up to Microsoft’s Winqual service to access the crash data from their customers, admins can access it by opening the .wer files, which are simple text files that Windows stores at different locations. In some cases, the problem description will help you to understand why an application crashed.

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In my last post, I described how you can view the Windows Error Reporting (.wer) files through the Action Center. Today, I will review the free portable tool AppCrashView that has essentially the same purpose as the Windows Error Reporting tool. However, the freeware utility has a few advantages.

First of all, Windows Error Reporting does not show all available information. Whereas AppCrashView shows you the exact content of the .wer files, the Windows Error Reporting applet displays only the most relevant data. For example, you can’t see the DLLs that have been loaded by the corresponding application when it crashed. Thus, if you want to know exactly what information is sent to Microsoft, you should use AppCrashView.

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You might want to disable Windows Error Reporting for two reasons: You don’t want to send error reports to Microsoft or the “application xy has stopped working” messages get on your nerves. In this post I will discuss both topics and in my next post I will show you how to disable Windows Error Reporting.

Send error reports to Microsoft?

Of course, Microsoft and third-party hardware and software vendors are highly interested in Windows error reports because these reports help improve the stability of their applications. You might also benefit from this Windows feature if the developers get the chance to solve your specific problem.

However, more cautious admins might feel uncomfortable sending error reports to Microsoft. Even though the contents of the .wer files are relatively harmless, parts of the Windows 7 Privacy Statement sound somewhat unsettling:

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In the last post of my Windows Error Reporting Series, I discussed the question of whether it makes sense to disable Windows Error Reporting or not. Today, I will explain how you can configure this controversial Windows feature in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. I will also show how you can manage Windows Error Reporting with Group Policy.

Disable Windows Error Reporting in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2

In Windows 7, you can disable Windows Error Reporting in the Action center (Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center). In the sidebar click “Change Action Center settings” and then click the “Problem reporting settings” link at the end of the Action Center applet. You can also start typing “problem reporting” in the Windows Start Menu search prompt and then click “Choose how to report problems.”

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