windows3-5  Exercise 2: Which Dump Types Survive a Smaller Page File?
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Verification: Level 1 (run on the author's machine, read-only, no administrator rights).

Prediction (work this out before running the script):

  Before running: with a page file of 2,048 MB, then 16,384 MB, then 32,768 MB, predict which of
  Small, Complete and Automatic (after a repeat crash) can be written. Microsoft's requirements: Small needs
  about 2 MB; Complete needs RAM + 257 MB; Automatic after a repeat crash needs RAM or 32 GB, whichever is smaller.

Commands (dump_readiness.ps1 saved in the current folder; none of them changes anything):

  .\dump_readiness.ps1 -PageFileMB 2048
  .\dump_readiness.ps1 -PageFileMB 16384
  .\dump_readiness.ps1 -PageFileMB 32768

Output (real, from the author's machine on 2026-10-24; your numbers will differ):

  2,048 MB:
  Dump type set on this PC : Small memory dump (3)
  Page file being tested   : 2,048 MB (proposed)
  Commit limit would be    : 31.8 GB (RAM + page file)

  Small memory dump                needs at least 2 MB on the boot volume                     OK
  Complete memory dump             needs RAM + 257 MB = 30,759 MB                             NOT ENOUGH
  Automatic, after a repeat crash  needs smaller of RAM or 32 GB = 30,502 MB                  NOT ENOUGH
  Kernel memory dump               needs depends on kernel memory use: cannot be computed here unknown

  16,384 MB:
  Dump type set on this PC : Small memory dump (3)
  Page file being tested   : 16,384 MB (proposed)
  Commit limit would be    : 45.8 GB (RAM + page file)

  Small memory dump                needs at least 2 MB on the boot volume                     OK
  Complete memory dump             needs RAM + 257 MB = 30,759 MB                             NOT ENOUGH
  Automatic, after a repeat crash  needs smaller of RAM or 32 GB = 30,502 MB                  NOT ENOUGH
  Kernel memory dump               needs depends on kernel memory use: cannot be computed here unknown

  32,768 MB:
  Dump type set on this PC : Small memory dump (3)
  Page file being tested   : 32,768 MB (proposed)
  Commit limit would be    : 61.8 GB (RAM + page file)

  Small memory dump                needs at least 2 MB on the boot volume                     OK
  Complete memory dump             needs RAM + 257 MB = 30,759 MB                             OK
  Automatic, after a repeat crash  needs smaller of RAM or 32 GB = 30,502 MB                  OK
  Kernel memory dump               needs depends on kernel memory use: cannot be computed here unknown

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
---------------------------
  With 2,048 MB or 16,384 MB only the Small memory dump is satisfied; the Complete dump (30,759 MB) and
  the Automatic dump after a repeat crash (30,502 MB) are NOT ENOUGH. With 32,768 MB all three computable
  requirements are met. The Kernel memory dump cannot be computed because Microsoft says it depends on
  kernel memory use.
  What it says about a fixed 16 GB file on a 32 GB PC: it works for the small dump the machine is set to now,
  but it quietly rules out the larger dump types, and Windows will not warn you at the time you set it: you find
  out after the crash that no usable dump was written. Microsoft's own article warns "Otherwise, the system
  can't create the crash dump file."
  Caveats: the script uses the RAM Windows reports (29.79 GB); a complete dump may need the full installed
  32 GB, which I did not verify, so for an exact fit add margin. The requirement for the small dump differs
  between Microsoft's pages (1 MB or 2 MB); the script uses the larger.
  Common mistakes: treating the page file's usage as the only reason to size it; forgetting the dump
  requirement; and changing the size without re-running a check like this one afterwards.