Why doesn't Windows save a minidump of bugchecks?

How do I fix the Windows described below to save a minidump in %SystemRoot%\Minidump when a bugcheck occur?, as it should normally do. i need the minidump to know what driver failed and needs to be removed or changed

recoveros

The recoveros settings are correct

wmic recoveros list /format:list && wmic recoveros get debuginfotype,minidumpdirectory /format:list
AutoReboot=TRUE
WriteDebugInfo=TRUE
WriteToSystemLog=TRUE
DebugInfoType=3
MiniDumpDirectory=%SystemRoot%\Minidump

It doesn't matter if auto reboot is disabled

wmic recoveros set autoreboot=false

Bugcheck number

There's no indication that the bugcheck number matters (that a minidump is saved for some bugcheck numbers) because

• no minidump has been saved for 307 (2012-12-03 - 2013-10-06) days

• the number of bugchecks during this period is around 37 according to Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center\Reliability Monitor

An example of a bugcheck name that isn't saved is

PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED_PAGES
no bugcheck name (the "BugCheck name" row in the topic "Bugcheck display" isn't written)

Bugcheck display

The bugcheck display the same message as when a minidump event (1001) is saved (don't indicate that it don't save a minidump)

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.

BugCheck name (this row is sometimes not displayed)

General information

Technical information:

*** STOP: BugCheck code (arguments)

*** driver where BugCheck was called

Collecting data for crash dump ...
Initializing disk for crash dump ...
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

wevtutil

When a bugcheck occur

Windows don't save a minidump event (1001)

wevtutil qe system /q:*[System[EventID=1001]] /rd:true /f:text /c:1

Windows save the other bugcheck events

wevtutil qe system /q:*[System[EventID=41]] /rd:true /f:text /c:1
  Date: 2013-01-29T19:15:42.198
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

wevtutil qe system /q:*[System[EventID=6008]] /rd:true /f:text /c:1
  Date: 2013-01-29T19:15:47.000
The previous system shutdown at 7:14:47 PM on ‎1/‎29/‎2013 was unexpected.

wevtutil qe system /q:*[System[EventID=1076]] /rd:true /f:text /c:1
  Date: 2013-01-29T19:16:49.000
The reason supplied by user PC\User for the last unexpected shutdown of this computer is: System Failure: Stop error
 Reason Code: 0x805000f
 Problem ID:
 Bugcheck String:
 Comment:

werfault

Windows don't display this werfault dialog when starting after a BugCheck

Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown

Windows can check online for a solution to the problem.

Reliability Monitor

The Reliability Monitor history display this message when a bugcheck don't save a minidump

Critical events

Windodws was not properly shut down

The previous system shutdown at 2:11:08 AM on ‎8/‎21/‎2013 was unexpected.

instead of this message when a bugcheck save a minidump

Critical events

Windows stopped working

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000003b (0x00000000c0000005, 0xfffff96000352e77, 0xfffff8802385fea0, 0x0000000000000000). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\Minidump\100613-14570-01.dmp. Report Id: 100613-14570-01.

minidumpscount

minidumpscount is more than 0 (and, if it matters, higher than the number of minidumps)

reg query hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\crashcontrol /v minidumpscount
    minidumpscount    REG_DWORD    0x3e7

dir %systemroot%\minidump | tail -2
              35 File(s)      9▒917▒969 bytes

pagefileset

The adequate pagefileset size for saving a minidump isn't known. It could be this size

wmic pagefileset list /format:list
InitialSize=1000
MaximumSize=1000

These sizes have been tried without solving the problem

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=2000,maximumsize=2000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=3000,maximumsize=3000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=4000,maximumsize=4000
wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" set automaticmanagedpagefile=true

attrib

The minidump folder isn't read-only (i.o.w. allow a BugCheck to save a minidump)

attrib %SystemRoot%\Minidump
        I    C:\Windows\Minidump

icacls

The minidump folder security is correct (i.o.w. allow a BugCheck to save a minidump)

icacls %SystemRoot%\Minidump
C:\Windows\Minidump BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)
                    NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

rmdir

The minidump folder is deleted because

• that reduce the probability that the folder security is wrong because that normally cause the next BugCheck to create a folder with correct security

rmdir /s /q %SystemRoot%\Minidump

However, a BugCheck don't create a folder with the name %SystemRoot%\Minidump. But creating the minidump folder manually with the mkdir command below don't cause a BugCheck to save a minidump

mkdir %SystemRoot%\Minidump

Last minidump

The last 41 event for which there's a minidump is

wevtutil qe system /q:*[System[EventID=41]] /rd:true /f:text /c:6
Event[5]:
  Date: 2012-12-03T06:21:37.590

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -8 | tail -1
2012-12-03  06:21           322▒616 120312-37830-01.dmp

System

my system is

Operating System
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
    Intel Core i7 3770K @ 3.50GHz   49 °C
    Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
    32,0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-M PRO (LGA1155) 36 °C
Graphics
    DELL U2312HM (1920x1080@60Hz)
    BenQG2222HDL (1920x1080@60Hz)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
    1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (XFX Pine Group)   79 °C
Hard Drives
    112GB OCZ-VERTEX2 ATA Device (SSD)  30 °C
Optical Drives
    QBCNK MRSHA3S5 SCSI CdRom Device
Audio
    Corsair Vengeance 2000 Headset

The available c: disk space is

fsutil volume diskfree c:
Total # of free bytes        : 19957088256
Total # of bytes             : 119926681600
Total # of avail free bytes  : 19957088256

Answer

Change pagefile.sys size to ≥ RAM size

The solution is to change pagefile.sys size to ≥ RAM size

wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" set automaticmanagedpagefile=true

wmic pagefile list /format:list
AllocatedBaseSize=32635
CurrentUsage=0
PeakUsage=0

dir /ah c:\pagefile.sys
2013-10-06  14:29    34 220 941 312 pagefile.sys

After this a minidump is saved even after changing the pagefile to a size that's smaller than the largest pagefile size (4000) used in the question

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=10000,maximumsize=10000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=5000,maximumsize=5000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=4000,maximumsize=4000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=3000,maximumsize=3000
wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=2000,maximumsize=2000

Increase free c: disk space to ≥ RAM size

And/or the solution is to change the free c: disk space to ≥ RAM size (and set the pagefile size to at least 2000) because

• it can't be determined which change solved the problem (described in "Problem solved after changing disk size or pagefile size")

Problem solved after changing disk size or pagefile size

The problem was solved after

• changing the pagefile size to > RAM size

• and/or changing the free c: disk space to ≥ RAM size

After this it was noticed that reducing the pagefile size from 32 G (automaticmanagedpagefile=true) to 2 G (maximumsize=2000) didn't return the problem

It can't be determined which change solved the problem because

• the problem was solved after chaging both the free disk space and pagefile size to > RAM size (32 G)

• a BugCheck should have saved a minidump when thew pagefile size was 4 G (maximumsize=4000) in the question because after a BugCheck started saving minidumps again it kept saving them after the pagefile size was reduced below 4 G (maximumsize=2000)

System

The system (Speccy output) difference compared to the topic "System" in the question is

Hard Drives
    233GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB ATA Device (SSD)    34 °C

Disk space

The available c: disk space is

fsutil volume diskfree c:
Total # of free bytes        : 82576859136
Total # of bytes             : 249844199424
Total # of avail free bytes  : 82576859136

Pagefile size and minidump

The pagefile size for which a BugCheck to create a minidump as described in this output

wmic computersystem where name="%computername%" set automaticmanagedpagefile=true

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -9 | tail -2
2013-10-06  14:29           324▒949 100613-14570-01.dmp
2012-12-03  07:21           322▒616 120312-37830-01.dmp

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=10000,maximumsize=10000

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -9 | tail -2
2013-10-11  18:46           324▒045 101113-13587-01.dmp
2013-10-06  14:29           324▒949 100613-14570-01.dmp

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=5000,maximumsize=5000

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -9 | tail -2
2014-01-05  04:50           325▒061 010514-12417-01.dmp
2013-10-11  17:46           324▒045 101113-13587-01.dmp

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=4000,maximumsize=4000

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -9 | tail -2
2014-01-23  03:45           323▒205 012314-11481-01.dmp
2014-01-05  04:50           325▒061 010514-12417-01.dmp

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=3000,maximumsize=3000

dir %systemroot%\minidump /o:-d | head -9 | tail -2
2014-02-15  02:12           323▒013 021514-10873-01.dmp
2014-01-23  03:45           323▒205 012314-11481-01.dmp

Unsolved problem

These problems remain unsolved even after applying the solution described in the topic "Answer"

Minimum pagefile.sys for minidump isn't described

Microsoft hasn't described clearly the minimum pagefile.sys size for which Windows save a minidump when RAM is 32 GB

Misleading BugCheck screen message

Microsoft mislead the user by writing "Physical memory dump complete." in the BugCheck screen also when a minidump isn't saved

Samsung Magician recommendation don't indicate that it can cause Windows to not save a minidump

Samsung don't indicate that the pagefile.sys size recommendation in "SYSTEM MANAGEMENT > OS Optimization" in Samsung Magician 4.2.1 can cause a BugCheck to not save a minidump

The Samsung Magician 4.2.1 "SYSTEM MANAGEMENT > OS Optimization" recommendation is

Maximum Capacity and Maximum Reliability

Virtual Memory

Virtual memory will be set to an initial size of 200 MB and a maximum of 1 GB.


Advanced

Manually set virtual memory in Windows Performance Options. If your PC has more than 4 GB of RAM, Samsung recommends you initially set virtual memory to 200 MB with a maximum of 2 GB. Use the shortcut to the right to adjsut settings.

i.o.w. the "Advanced" recommendation is

wmic pagefileset where name="c:\\pagefile.sys" set initialsize=200,maximumsize=2000

Recommendation

Describe minimum pagefile.sys size

Microsoft should describe the minimum c:\pagefile.sys size for which BugCheck save a minidump because

• when RAM size is 32 GB RAM the "PeakUsage" output from "wmic pagefile list /format:list" is sometimes 0. I.o.w. the utility of pagefile.sys is 0

• 32 GB SSD has a cost that's more than 0 (around €15)

Change Windows so that a BugCheck save a minidump when pagefile.sys is small

Microsoft should change Windows so that it save a minidump when c:\pagefile.sys is small (f.e. 0,2 GB) because

• the reason in the previous recommendation
• a minidump has a utility (identifying a driver that cause a BugCheck). I.o.w. BugCheck should always create it