What is Windows Error Reporting?

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by Windows

Overview

Windows Error Reporting is published by Windows. You can find out more about Windows Error Reporting at its official website or at Windows's website.


How do I clean Windows Error Reporting?

Windows Error Reporting may store excess, temporary data on your computer that can take up valuable space. It may also store private data such as passwords or browsing history in the registry or on the file system. The easiest way to erase this data is by downloading AppCleaner, it is 100% free and about 1MB in size. A portable version is also available.

Clean Windows Error Reporting
with AppCleaner

If you want to clean Windows Error Reporting manually, you can follow the steps outlined below. There are nine locations in the file system where Windows Error Reporting stores data that can be cleaned. Additionally, Windows Error Reporting stores private data in six registry keys.

Registry

To clean the registry from data stored by Windows Error Reporting, you can use the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) which is installed by default on all Windows operating systems. First of all, open regedit.exe by carrying out these steps:

  • Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
  • Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
  • Type regedit.exe
  • Hit Enter

Now use regedit.exe to delete the registry keys:

    • Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand Software.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Click Debug.
    • Right-click StoreLocation in the right pane.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.
    • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand Software.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Click Debug.
    • Right-click StoreLocation in the right pane.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.
    • Expand HKEY_USERS from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand .DEFAULT.
    • Expand Software.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Click Debug.
    • Right-click StoreLocation in the right pane.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.
    • Expand HKEY_USERS from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand S-1-5-18.
    • Expand Software.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Click Debug.
    • Right-click StoreLocation in the right pane.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.
    • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand SOFTWARE.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Click Debug.
    • Right-click StoreLocation in the right pane.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.
    • Expand HKLM from the root of the tree in the left pane.
    • Expand SOFTWARE.
    • Expand Microsoft.
    • Expand Windows.
    • Expand Windows Error Reporting.
    • Right-click LocalDumps.
    • Choose Delete from the context menu.
    • Click Yes.

Files

To clean your file system from files stored by Windows Error Reporting and to gain free disk space, examine the following file system locations. First of all, open a command prompt window:

  • Hit the Windows key , usually located in the lower left of your keyboard between the Ctrl and Alt keys.
  • Windows XP/Vista/7: Click Run...
  • Type cmd
  • Hit Enter

Now list all the files stored by Windows Error Reporting that can be cleaned:

  1. Type dir %LOCALAPPDATA%\ElevatedDiagnostics
    • Windows XP: Type dir %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\ElevatedDiagnostics
  2. Type dir /s %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\*
    • Windows XP: Type dir /s %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\*
  3. Type dir /s %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\*
    • Windows XP: Type dir /s %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\*
  4. Type dir /s %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\*
    • Windows XP: Type dir /s %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\*
  5. Type dir /s %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\*
    • Windows XP: Type dir /s %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\*
  6. Type dir %WinDir%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\*.dmp
  7. Type dir %WinDir%\System32\config\systemprofile\Local Settings\Application Data\CrashDumps\*.dmp
  8. Type dir %WinDir%\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\*.dmp
  9. Type dir %WinDir%\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Local Settings\Application Data\CrashDumps\*.dmp

Once you have identified the files stored by Windows Error Reporting that you want to clean, delete them using the del command or Windows Explorer.

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