Requested Contents for Windows Problem Reports

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1

SUMMARY

This article describes Microsoft's preferred format for submitting problem reports on Windows. Using this format will help us to understand the precise context of your problem report, enabling us to provide better answers to you and more helpful problem reports to our development staff.

MORE INFORMATION

Your problem report should be structured as follows:

   SEVERITY:
   ENVIRONMENT:
   DESCRIPTION:
   CONFIGURATION:
      Hardware:
      Drivers:
      Software:
   DEBUG INFORMATION:

Severity

1, 2, 3, or 4. Use the following guidelines for severity:

   1  Critical -- Software does not work at all (crashes) or causes
      loss/corruption of data. Any situation where the system hangs or
      requires a cold or warm boot.

   2  Major -- A feature/function does not operate as designed. Any
      command or function that produces incorrect results or renders a
      portion of the product unusable.

   3  Minor -- Problems are generally minor in nature and do not
      prevent program from running (spelling errors, screen display
      errors, and so forth), or the results are misleading and/or
      difficult for the user to understand.

   4  Enhancement -- Problem is a design or feature fault that can be
      addressed in a future release.

Environment

WINDOWS REAL or 286 PROTECT or 386 PROTECT release Version x.xx

   (Include debug info line from the bottom right of screen, if
    applicable)

Description

Below is a description of the "ideal" problem report. The best problem reports are clear, complete, and concise. These are some points that will make it easier to track problem reports and enter them in our problem database.

The report should state the steps necessary to reproduce the problem, the results, and (if available) a summary of the debug output. Try to include enough information that we can reproduce the problem here, but also try to keep the reports concise.

The configuration should be at the end of the problem report so that people reading the report can get the gist of the problem without having to wade through information that may not be relevant (but the information is there in case it is relevant).

Configuration

   Hardware: CPU/Memory/Monitor/keyboard/printer/modem/etc.
   Drivers: Installed device drivers
   Software: TSRs/Network drivers/etc.

Debug Information

The following is a sample of debug output that can be helpful in locating a problem:

GENERAL PROTECTION VIOLATION CS=0EED SS=0F35 DS=0F35 ES=OOOO FS=0000 GS=0000

   -- NV UP EI PL NZ NA PE NC
0EED:00000387  MOV     AL,BYTE PTR     AL,BYTE PTR [BX]
   DS:23D0=INV:0003

.dg cs 004D: 0063p CODE NOTEPAD (0EEE) 1065,103D

103D: 01FFp CODE USER     (05BE) 104D,102D
1165: 0061p CODE GDI      (03AE) 101D,100D