Silently Queue Windows Error Reports via Regedit

This guide explains how to configure Windows Error Reporting (WER) to automatically queue crash and error reports in the background without displaying user-facing prompts. By modifying specific values in the Windows Registry, administrators can prevent interruption dialogs on endpoints while still capturing critical diagnostic data for later analysis.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor

  1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter (or click OK).
  3. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to grant administrative permissions.

Step 2: Navigate to the WER Registry Key

In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path using the left sidebar or by pasting it into the address bar:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting

(Note: To apply this configuration only to the current user profile, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting instead.)

Step 3: Configure Silent Queuing

To suppress error dialogues and force Windows to queue reports silently, create and configure the DontShowUI registry value:

  1. Right-click the Windows Error Reporting key in the left pane (or empty space in the right pane).
  2. Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  3. Name the new value DontShowUI.
  4. Double-click DontShowUI to open its properties.
  5. Set the Value data to 1.
  6. Ensure the Base is set to Hexadecimal, then click OK.

Step 4: Ensure the Service Is Enabled

Ensure Windows Error Reporting is not completely turned off:

  1. Look for a DWORD value named Disabled in the same key.
  2. If Disabled exists, double-click it and ensure its Value data is set to 0.
  3. If the value does not exist, the service remains enabled by default.

To ensure reports are automatically queued without requiring explicit consent for each event:

  1. Under Windows Error Reporting, locate or create a subkey named Consent.
  2. Inside Consent, create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named DefaultConsent.
  3. Set its Value data to 1 (to queue reports) or 2 (to automatically send parameters).

Step 6: Apply Changes

Close the Registry Editor. The changes take effect immediately; no system reboot is required. From this point forward, when an application crashes, Windows will capture the diagnostic data and add the report to the local queue silently.