debug.log file is being created in a few Windows folders (possibly from Chrome). How can I troubleshoot and resolve?

Question

A few weeks ago I noticed a file named debug.log begin to appear in a few Windows folders (Win 10, x64). Does anyone know if it is due to Google Chrome, and/or how to resolve? The only reason I ask is because of this previous post in the Chrome Help Forum.

The contents of the file are log entries of this form:

[0810/181603.876:ERROR:crash_report_database_win.cc(427)] unexpected header
[0810/182501.651:ERROR:crash_report_database_win.cc(427)] unexpected header
[0810/192930.630:ERROR:crash_report_database_win.cc(427)] unexpected header

Right now I cannot seem to reproduce the issue, so troubleshooting is a bit difficult. One such log file is in my folder D:\temp, and a few new entries get logged to that file every day. If I delete it, the file returns within a day.

I posted to the Chrome Help Forum, but didn't receive many replies. Someone began walking me through how to check if my Chrome had debugging enabled, but that person stopped replying.

WordPress saves its PHP log to a file named 'debug.log,' and I am a WordPress developer. But I don't develop locally, so this file shouldn't really appear locally. Plus the contents of this log file aren't even close to the typical contents/form of the WordPress log.

Thanks.

Solution 1

I just experienced this for a few days and it drove me mad... so what fixed it for me was the following:

1. Stop Chrome
2. Delete the directory %AppData%\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Crashpad and all its contents
3. Restart chrome

Due to the fact that this happened to me when opening PDF files in Chrome I thought the error was related to a header in the PDF, but my current theory is that this is actually the crash report database that might have become corrupt; I have already deleted mine, but there seems to be a utility for the crashpad database. Maybe next time.

Solution 2

I have an update, with the eventual workaround I implemented.

I tried to uninstall Chrome, then re-install. But doing so via Control Panel resulted in an error--it could not locate the installer file (sorry, no screenshots). I then followed the instructions in this Google Product Forum post, and was able to re-install Chrome. Initial tests indicate that the issue is gone. At least, I can no longer re-create the issue as I before.

Solution 3

I have faced a similar problem and found what is created it but not sure why.

I have set the latest Microsoft Edge web browser as my default PDF viewer. When I'm opening PDF files, the Edge browser (randomly) creates a debug.log file in the same folder as the PDF file. The contents of this file is often as following:

[1011/085129.427:ERROR:settings.cc(430)] Settings version is not 5

Not sure why these files are being created.

Comments

[Ramhound]

Which folders specifically? Chrome only has the ability to write to the user profile directory and it's installation directory. Any file outside of those two folders wouldn't have been created by Chrome since it doesn't have the ability to do so.

[Appleoddity]

We went through a bout of this in our organization. It was Chrome. Subsequent updates to Chrome eventually solved the issue.

[cag8f]

@Ramhound, one of the folders is D:\temp. That is not a default user profile directory. BUT a couple months ago I did re-assign it is one--it is my default 'Pictures' directory.

[cag8f]

@Appleoddity I was hoping Chrome updates would do the trick as well. On 31 July, I updated Chrome from v.59.0 to v.60.0. But the log files kept appearing.

[Ramhound]

Have you tried deleting your user profile so chrome behaves like it's suppose to?

[cag8f]

@Ramhound No I have not tried deleting my user profile. How exactly would I do that? But more importantly, will that cause any additional issues? Also, to update you, I noticed that the file is indeed being written to other, non-system folders. I can also reliably reproduce the issue in one folder. In that folder is a Google sheets file. Whenever I open this file, it opens in Chrome. When that occurs, the file is saved to the same folder (or the file is updated, if the file already exists).

[Gregor y]

IMO it appears to be some windows crash report since chrome isn't the only program that triggers the debug.log file's creation with entries [MMdd/HHmmss.fff:ERROR:enum_name.cc(#)] Kernal32.lib function: system error msg 0xSystemErrCode, still can't find where the enum_name.cc(#) is coming from though

[Gregor y]

ok, new opinion. Looks like the enum_name.cc(#) is the chromium source code file name and line number