Dr. Watson Fails to Appear When Applications Fail Because of Long File Names in Path (175644)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
This article was previously published under Q175644
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry.
Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it
if a problem occurs. For information on how to do this, view the "Restoring
the Registry" online Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry
Key" online Help topic in Regedt32.exe.
SYMPTOMS
Applications that are running on a computer running Windows NT Server or
Windows NT Workstation may fail, but there is no error message or any other
indication of failure, and no log is ever created.
CAUSE
During the installation of certain applications such as Visual C++ 5.0,
the setup program changes the default debugger to the application
itself. If that application is installed in a location that contains a
long file name, or spaces in the path, the previously described symptom
occurs.
RESOLUTION
Use one of the following methods to resolve this problem. The first two
methods change the default debugger back to Dr. Watson.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that
may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot
guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor
can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And
Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete
Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in
Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.
Method 1- Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Command Prompt.
- Type the following command to start Dr. Watson and change Dr. Watson to
the default debugger:
Drwtsn32 -i
Method 2- Run Registry Editor (regedt32.exe).
- Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
\AeDebug
NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for
readability.
- To change the default debugger back to Dr. Watson, modify the debugger
value to the following:
Value Name: Debugger
Data Type : REG_SZ
Data : Drwtsn32 -p %ld -e %ld
Method 3
The following method will allow Visual C++ 5.0 to run as the default
debugger:
- Run Registry Editor (regedt32.exe).
- Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
\AeDeb
NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for
readability.
- Modify the current debugger path to use the short file name, or place
quotation marks around the data path to allow the spaces to be
correctly interpreted.
For example, if Visual C++ 5.0 is installed and the path is
C:\Program Files\<application>, change the data value to the following:
Value Name: Debugger
Data Type : REG_SZ
Data : C:\Progra~1\DevStudio\SharedIDE\Bin\Msdev.exe %ld -e %ld
-or-
Data : "C:\Program Files\DevStudio\SharedIDE\Bin\Msdev.exe %ld
-e %ld"
NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for
readability.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. We
are researching this problem and will post new information here in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 8/9/2001 |
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| Keywords: | kbbug KB175644 |
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