We’ve all heard the horrors that come with the Blue Screen of Death, but not so much a word about the BSoD crash dumps it leaves behind—unless you’re in IT. At the very least, it’s crucial to know that BSoD memory dumps contain logs that Windows created to diagnose issues that led to the blue screen.
On that note, you might find it tempting to delete these files. But can memory dumps be deleted manually? Or is Windows already doing the housekeeping? The gist is that you can automate the deletion of these files, and this guide will explain how.
How to disable automatic deletion of memory dumps on low disk space
There is one clear way to allow or disallow the cycle of deleting BSoD crash dumps automatically, and it’s via the Windows Registry.
⚠️ Warning: Unintended changes in the Registry can compromise your system’s performance and stability. Before making adjustments, learn how to back up and restore the Windows Registry.
On that note, here are the steps for modifying BSoD memory dump settings:
Disable auto-deletion of BSoD crash dump using the Registry Editor
- Press Win + R, type “regedit” in the dialog box, and tap OK. to open the Registry Editor.
- Navigate to or copy and paste this path into the Registry’s address bar.
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
- In the right pane:
- Right-click and select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value
- If one isn’t available. Name it AlwaysKeepMemoryDump.
- Tap to open it and set the Value data to 1.
- Click OK to confirm and close the Registry Editor.
How to re-enable automatic deletion of BSoD crash dump
If you want to do the opposite and enable the automatic deletion of the BDoS crash dump, return to the same Registry path but change the AlwaysKeepMemoryDump value to 0 or delete the key entirely.
Alternative methods and considerations when handling BSoD dump files
Apart from changing the protocols for handling BSoD crash dumps, these additional steps are worth looking into:
Storage Sense settings
While Storage Sense can automatically clear temporary files and logs, the utility tool doesn’t directly manage memory dumps. However, you can modify the Storage Sense settings to preserve other system logs, which may help with troubleshooting.
Monitoring dump file size
Dump files from crashes can accumulate several hundred MBs to GBs as they pile up. If the system often teeters close to its storage limit, you may need to consider expanding your storage or managing temporary files more frequently, if not automating.
BSoD crash dump files Frequently Asked Questions
1. Will disabling auto-deletion cause storage issues?
If crashes are frequent and the dump files are sizable, they can consume noticeable disk space. In addition, the crash volume may signal a more crucial error that needs to be fixed.
2. Where are memory dumps stored?
By default, the dump files are stored in C:\Windows\memory.dmp or in %SystemRoot%\minidump.
3. Can I delete dump files manually after reviewing?
Yes, you can safely delete the .dmp files manually after you analyze the dump file logs.
4. Does this setting affect all types of dump files?
Yes, turning on or off automatic deletion of dump files will apply to all system-generated crash dumps created during BSoD events.
Effective memory dump management on Windows 10
In general, you should have a system for promptly analyzing and clearing dump files. Letting these temporary files accumulate without diagnosing frequent crashes can hamper your device’s performance and storage management efforts. On that note, you can also check out this guide for deleting other temporary files to free up storage.
