Save a minidump file

Visual Studio 2012 and newer

Launch a second instance of the IDE, but do not load any solution in this second instance.

Open the Debug menu and select "Attach to Process..." (Ctrl+Alt+P). In the dialog that appears, select "devenv.exe" in the "Available Processes" list and press "Attach".

When asked which program types you want to debug, make sure "Native" and "Managed (v4.5, 4.0)" are checked:

If the target process is not already hung or crashed, reproduce the problem at this point. If the problem is a hang, switch back to the debugger instance and break into the process using the "Break All" command from the Debug menu. If the problem is a crash, the debugger instance should automatically break in.

Create a dump file using the "Save Dump As..." item in the Debug menu and note where you save the DMP file. In the save dialog, use the "Save as type" dropdown to select either "no heap" or the item without heap.

If the "Save Dump As..."command is not available, you will need to use WinDbg to save a minidump file. (See below.)

Visual Studio 2005-2010

Launch a second instance of the IDE, but do not load any solution in this second instance.

Open the Debug menu (VS2008 and newer) or the Tools menu (VS2005) and select "Attach to Process..." (Ctrl+Alt+P). In the dialog that appears, select "devenv.exe" in the "Available Processes" list and press "Attach".

If asked which program types you want to debug, make sure "Native" and "Managed" are checked:

If the target process is not already hung or crashed, reproduce the problem at this point. If the problem is a hang, switch back to the debugger instance and break into the process using the "Break All" command from the Debug menu. If the problem is a crash, the debugger instance should automatically break in.

Create a dump file using the "Save Dump As..." item in the Debug menu and note where you save the DMP file. In the save dialog, use the "Save as type" dropdown to select either "no heap" or the item without heap.

If the "Save Dump As..."command is not available, you will need to use WinDbg to save a minidump file. (See below.)

Visual Studio 2003/2002 or Visual C++ 6.0

Use WinDbg which is installed by default with your IDE. If it is not, download and install the Microsoft Debugging Tools for Windows. The 32bit version is here:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/hh852365

Start | All Programs | Debugging Tools for Windows (x86) | WinDbg
or directly run the program:
C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\windbg.exe

Attach to the IDE process using the "Attach to a Process..." command from the File menu (F6). Select "msdev.exe" (VC6) or "devenv.exe" (VS2002 and above) from the list. It helps to have closed any extra instances of the IDE, so only the hung / problem IDE is in the list and you know you are selecting the correct process. Sorting the process list "By Executable" also helps.

If the target process is not already hung or crashed, reproduce the problem at this point. If the problem is a hang, switch back to WinDbg and break into the process. If the problem is a crash, WinDbg should become active. In the WinDbg command prompt, type the command:

.dump /mdhiptu c:\va_problem.dmp

and then press Enter.

To close the IDE, select the "Stop Debugging" command from the Debug menu (Shift+F5).

To set the IDE running and detach the debugger, use the "Detach Debuggee" command from the Debug menu.