When Windows hits a fault it cannot recover from, it stops with a blue screen (black on newer Windows 11) and saves a crash dump: a small file in C:\Windows\Minidump for each crash and, depending on the settings, a larger MEMORY.DMP. The screen itself shows little more than a stop code such as DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and it is often gone before you can read it. The dump keeps the details: the stop code and its parameters, when it happened, and which drivers were loaded where in memory.
This page opens those dumps directly. It explains the stop code in plain words, lists the drivers, and looks for the one most likely involved by checking which drivers the addresses on the crashing thread’s stack, the processor’s state and the stop code’s parameters point into, much as other free crash viewers do. Open several dumps at once and a driver that keeps coming back stands out. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
- Where are blue screen dump files saved?
- Small memory dumps go to C:\Windows\Minidump, one file per crash named by date, and the most recent full or kernel dump to C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Which ones Windows writes is set in System Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery.
- How sure is the “driver most likely involved”?
- It is a well-informed guess. Without Microsoft’s debug symbols, a viewer can see which drivers the addresses near the crash belong to, but not exactly which function failed or why. A driver named here is a good place to start; WinDbg with !analyze -v, which uses Microsoft’s symbols, gives a much fuller picture.
- Why does it say ntoskrnl.exe?
- ntoskrnl.exe is the Windows kernel, and every blue screen is raised by it, so it is on nearly every crash stack. It is only named when no other driver turns up, which usually points to hardware, firmware, damaged Windows files, or a cause a small dump cannot show.
- Is this an alternative to BlueScreenView or WinDbg?
- For a quick look, yes: like NirSoft’s BlueScreenView it shows the stop code, parameters, drivers and a likely culprit, and it works on any computer without installing anything, Macs and phones included. It is not connected with NirSoft or Microsoft. For a deep analysis WinDbg remains the tool to use.
- Can it open MEMORY.DMP?
- Yes, from 64-bit Intel and AMD PCs: the stop code and details come from the header, and the driver list is read from the memory saved in the dump, a small piece at a time, so even a dump of many gigabytes opens without filling your memory. Copy it out of C:\Windows first, as it needs administrator rights.
- Is it safe to open crash dumps here?
- A dump can contain your computer’s details and fragments of what was in memory. This page reads it in your browser and sends nothing anywhere, so it never leaves your device, which is safer than uploading it to an analysis service or a forum.
To find out what a driver file (.sys) or .dll is and who made it, open it in the DLL & EXE Inspector. To check a laptop battery’s wear, use the Battery Report Viewer.