Where Does Windows Store Crash Reports?
Where Windows Error Reporting files crash reports in ReportArchive and ReportQueue, per machine and per user.
Last updated
Windows Error Reporting files crash reports under %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER: ReportQueue holds unsent reports awaiting upload or consent, ReportArchive holds submitted or declined ones. Per user copies mirror the same split under AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER.
Full memory dumps are the heavy sibling: MEMORY.DMP at C:\Windows for blue screens (see the minidump post for the small ones), plus LocalDumps registry overrides for per app captures. The archive folders are safe to empty; the dumps are the ones that eat gigabytes.
Where Windows stores this, by platform
%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive
Paste %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER into Explorer. Queue holds pending uploads, Archive holds history. Per user stores mirror both under AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER.
Frequently asked questions
How do I read what actually crashed?
Open Reliability Monitor (perfmon /rel) for the human readable timeline, or browse ReportArchive for the raw .wer files plus memory dumps. Each archived report folder holds the metadata and any uploaded minidump together.
Can I delete archived error reports?
Yes: Disk Cleanup (System error memory dumps, Windows Error Reporting files) clears them safely, as does emptying ReportArchive by hand with services running normally. Per user archives in AppData may need each profile cleaned separately on shared machines.
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