Before you can properly debug crash and memory dumps in Windows (Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server), you need to install WinDbg -Windows Debugger- and its debugging symbols. In this article I explain how to set up these debugging symbols for WinDbg in Windows.
Assuming you’ve already installed WinDbg through the Windows SDK sdksetup.exe
program, the steps to configure Windows debugging symbols in WinDbg are pretty easy and straightforward:
- Start WinDbg
- Click File
- Click Symbol File Path (shortcode Ctrl+S)


- Fill in a new Symbol Path: SRV*D:\SymCache*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
- Click OK
- Click Save Workspace in the File menu


The path D:\SymCache
is specific to my environment. If the target folder of your choosing doesn’t yet exist, it’ll be created.
All done, now you can debug BSOD like a boss.
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