How Can I Intentionally Crash One of My Applications?

[toasty]

I'm doing some testing for the software company I work for and need to generate some .WER files. The "problem" is that my system is too stable Is there anyway to intentionally crash an application so it will generate a .WER file?

Ending the Process won't do it. And a BSOD isn't what I'm after. This is specifically to get to application crash files

 

[Dude]

Well you could go in the application folder and delete some of it's files. Would probably just give an error loading rather than crash. Which application do you have in mind?

 

[Alejandro85]

I think the easiest way is for the developers to include an intentionally broken codepath in a debug build so that, when triggered by some rather obscure command will cause the program to fail. Something like this will do, if you're able to recompile it:

#if(DEBUG)
int dividend=1;
int divisor=0;
int result=dividend/divisor; //KABOOM here, division by zero
#endif

Of course, testing code like this should NEVER be released, just used for testing purposes internally.

Another way could be deleting dependencies while the program is running, say deleting or blocking data files it uses, but here the app may react gracefully if it's really so stable. Inyecting faulty code by means of replacing one of its DLLs is another option.
The most probable way I can think of without so much programming knowledge would be to use Process Explorer to tamper with its internal state. If you go to its process and see the list of open handles, you can force close on them, say on files, or most critically unload DLLs (PE will warn that it could unstabilize the program, but since it's the intended effect go ahead). It's really a trial and error, until you find a weak point that the devs haven't took into account.

 

[toasty]

@Alejandro85, the software is already in production, so I don't want to bother the devs with including extra code (esp since it's the weekend) just so I can muck with the system. This is much more basic research on my part, so the exact application that crashes is irrelevant.

@Dude, really any program. Firefox, Chrome, Libreoffice, Irfanview, VideoLan...

All I really need is just to generate a WER file... preferably without borking my system in the process