How to Analyze an Access Violation

1. Click the Windows 'Start' button. Type 'event viewer' in the search text box and press 'Enter.' The Event Viewer is a utility available with each Windows operating system. It lets you view error messages in the Windows log files.
2. Click the arrow next to the 'Windows Logs' icon. This expands a list of options. Click the 'Applications' icon. In the center detail pane, a list of error messages are shown. Click the access violation error you want to analyze.
3. Review the first line in the error message. The first line tells you what application caused the error. Some access violation messages also show you the function in the program code where the error occurred. This is helpful when reporting the error to the developer.
4. Read the second line where a hexadecimal message is shown. This is the memory address where the error occurred. This is also helpful to the software developer. If any messages are included, the message is shown to the right of this memory address.