Windows Error Reporting Setup (WERSetup)

First introduced with the release of Windows Vista, the Windows Error Reporting function or, in short, WER, makes it possible to collect error reports whenever a program in Windows crashes. These reports greatly help in understanding what caused the crash and finding solutions to avoid such issues in the future.

Given its potentially helpful contribution to debugging an issue, it is only normal that users and developers specifically keep the Windows Error Reporting feature active. In Windows, you can only configure the WER function via the registry. The Windows Error Reporting Setup (WERSetup) application comes to the rescue to help you configure WER to collect crash reports to your benefit. In other words, this lightweight application provides a simple user interface for setting up the Windows Error Reporting registry key.  

Right from the start you should know that, since the application makes modifications to the system’s registry, it is mandatory that you run it with administrator privileges. Otherwise, you will not be able to save changes.

Windows Error Reporting Setup enables you to specify the location where the minidump files (generated when a program crashes) will be saved. These files are of great help to developers of the given application to diagnose the issue and fix bugs, if necessary. As already mentioned, you can set the folder where dump files are saved. ACL can be set up on this folder for every computer user to have read and write access.

Windows Error Reporting Setup can also configure the crash dump type by choosing between mini dump, smaller files and full dump files of a larger size. Evidently, the latter are much more helpful for debugging. To save up disk space, you can set a maximum number of files before old ones are recycled. If you want a different folder for specific applications, there is a section where these locations can be specified.

The Windows Error Reporting Setup application provides an easier way to configure the WER function in Windows. It is easy to use but, even so, it is only advisable to run it if you know what you are doing.