How to create a Complete Memory Dump of a running or hanging Virtual Machine (VM) on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

by Cengiz Kuskaya 11/01/2015

written by Cengiz Kuskaya

Prerequisites

1. Download and install “Debugging Tools for Windows” onto the Hyper-V Server. Debugging Tools for Windows is a part of Windows SDK.

Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8.1
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/desktop/bg162891

2. Download and copy “livekd.exe” to the following directories.

LiveKd v5.31
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897415.aspx

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x64>
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x86>

3. Open a CMD window as Administrator and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x64> and proceed with the steps below.

a) Type -> Livekd
b) Type -> Y
c) Press -> Enter

4. Open a second CMD window as Administrator and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x64>.

a) Create a folder named "Dumps" under the "C:\" folder. "C:\Dumps".
b) Type -> livekd.exe -hv VMName -p -o "C:\Dumps\VMName.dmp" like in the example below.

A Complete Memory Dump including User Mode and Kernel Mode Address Space will be created under the “C:\Dumps\VMName.DMP” directory.

Good luck !