WINDOWS_USE_WER , 98% of crashes are Unknown in Microsoft Partner center.

Development Platform & Builds
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Hi epic, our game has been using WINDOWS_USE_WER to report Desktop-Windows crashes up to the Microsoft Partner center.

However it seems all crashes that originate from the game itself are classified under the “Unknown” category. I assume this may be because the call-stack or other info may not be getting sent.

I was wondering if you could tell me what the expected behavior and setup of WER is for windows. Is there any logic similar to “that other green platform” where by saving a minidump or registering a log filename, we can get more info up to the partner center for our game?

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Additionally, a disproportionate amount of our crashes are attributed to have come from users in Turkey, which is unexpected and does not match our other data.

Many thanks!

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Steps to Reproduce

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Hi.

First step is to make sure you have uploaded the symbols as well. Is this a Win64 desktop game or a WinGDK packaged game?

  • for a packaged WinGDK game, the symbols zip file is generated at the same time as the msixvc package, and should be uploaded at the same time as the package (same as xbox)… this may require SubmissionValidator.dll to be present.
  • there is guidance here for desktop applications that might apply to Win64 but this is not something I’m familiar with.

Some things to check:

  • Make sure you are not stripping the symbols before generating the symbols zip.
  • Verify that the PDB matches the EXE.
  • Check the output from the makepkg process and see if there are warnings or notes about missing symbols etc.
  • I would also suggest reaching out to your Microsoft DAM who may be able to provide further analysis on why the crash callstacks aren’t resolving (and why they’re mostly from Turkey)

Other thoughts:

  • Last time I asked MS, crash dumps weren’t available unless the user had enrolled in Windows Insider and enabled all the telemetry. That shouldn’t affect the callstacks themselves though.
  • With FN on xbox, we have seen cases where crash callstacks take some time for Partner Center to start resolving once an update goes live - but that’s usually a few hours maximum.

Best regards,

David