Windows problem determination

This section describes problem determination on Windows.

Setting up and checking your Windows environment
The operation of the Java™ runtime on Windows is controlled by a number of environment variables.
General debugging techniques
This section provides a guide to the JVM-provided diagnostic tools that can be useful when you are diagnosing problems that occur with the Windows JVM.
Diagnosing crashes in Windows
You generally see a crash either as an unrecoverable exception thrown by Java or as a pop-up window notifying you of a General Protection Fault (GPF). The pop-up window usually refers to java.exe as the application that caused the crash. Crashes can occur because of a fault in the Java runtime, or because of a fault in native (JNI) code being run in the Java process.
Debugging hangs
Hangs refer to the JVM locking up or refusing to respond.
Debugging memory leaks
This section begins with a discussion of the Windows memory model and the Java heap to provide background understanding before going into the details of memory leaks.
Receiving OutOfMemoryError exceptions
An OutOfMemoryError exception results from running out of space on the Java heap or the native heap.
OutOfMemoryError creating a thread
The java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread message occurs when the system does not have enough resources to create a new thread.
Debugging performance problems on Windows
Locating the causes of poor performance is often difficult. Although many factors can affect performance, the overall effect is generally perceived as poor response time or slow execution of your program.
MustGather information for Windows
The more information that you can collect about a problem, the easier it is to diagnose that problem. A large set of data can be collected, although some is relevant to particular problems.

Parent topic: Problem determination