Disabling System Hard Error Message Dialog Boxes

MORE INFORMATION

To modify the registry entry under Windows NT version 3.5 and later:

1. Run Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
2. From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:

   \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows\ErrorMode

3. Select the ErrorMode value.
4. From the Edit menu, choose DWORD.
5. Type 0 (zero), 1, or 2, to configure your system to handle system hard error dialog boxes.

The following table defines the three possible values for ErrorMode:

   Value   Result
   -----   ----------------------------------------------------------------

     0     Errors are serialized and wait for a response.

     1     If the error does not come from the system, then the system
           continues in normal operating mode. If the error comes from the
           system, then it is written to the system log; no user
           intervention is required and dialog boxes are not displayed.

     2     The error is written to the system log; the dialog box is not
           displayed.
				

System hard errors are always written to the system log. To run an unattended server, use mode 2. The default value is 0.

Although the hotfix implements some of this functionality under Windows NT version 3.1, the automatic logging of system hard errors to the system log could not be implemented. If you use this hotfix, hard error dialog boxes will be stopped, but the record of the error condition will not be written to the system log. As a result, you will not be able to tell that an error occurred. For this reason, Microsoft does not recommend installing this hotfix unless it is absolutely necessary.

For more information on what types of errors are controlled by the ErrorMode key, see the Windows NT 3.5 SDK SetErrorMode documentation. The Windows NT 3.5 SDK documentation explains the error types that are classified as hard errors. The ErrorMode registry value controls the same types of dialog boxes as SetErrorMode, and overrides any hard error settings made by applications calling SetErrorMode.

NOTE: Internal components that do not use the internal hard error routines to display dialog boxes are not affected by this key.