Exact steps to enable VLC logging

[Chrisi22]

Using VLC 1.1.11 in Vista x64 SP2
I searched & read what I could piece together on enabling logging / debugging logging. It's not quite as straight forward in VLC as some other apps.

1) Is logging only available PER video / audio file, or can it be turned on indefinitely?

2) What are exact steps to enable logging? I tried several methods before stumbling on getting it to work - not even sure what combination of settings did the trick.
SEEMED that clicking View>Add Interface>Debug Logging was partly what finally caused VLC to create a log file w/ useful contents, though I didn't find those instructions searching on the forum.

3) What is purpose of Tools>Messages screen, w/ Verbosity & filter entries? Even when a log file (vlc-log.txt) is created w/ contents, I've never seen anything show up in Messages window.

4) What is purpose of Preferences>Advanced>Logging - "File Logging" screen? Yes, you can browse to an existing vlc-log.txt file, but it only seems to be saving the file you browse to... (where??).
There is no "enable logging" here - in my install, though I've seen references in posts to enabling it from this screen.
It doesn't let you view / alter the file. It's purpose seems unclear - certainly diff than anything I've seen.

There are references in VLC documentation on Videolan's site that reference a "crash dump" file: http://wiki.videolan.org/Report_bugs

You can send along the last VLC crash log. The file is called Crashdump.

crashdump is the file VLC's Windows builds generate when VLC crashes. It is stored to %appdata%\vlc folder...
You can check the content of crashdump file with any text editor.

Even when VLC crashes, I don't find a crashdump file in %appdata%\vlc or VLC program files folder.
Thanks.

[b-frame]

If I want a log, I do the following:
Menu->Tools->Messages. Set Verbosity to 2. Hit Play and see how the log is written into the Messages window. If you wanna have it as a file, click "Save as...".

It is important to mention that you only get the full log when the Messages window is already open BEFORE you start playing something. Concerning the crashdump-file, make sure you copy it directly after VLC crashed. It might be that VLC deletes the file when you start it again.

[VLC_help]

File logging is broken under Windows. But crash dumps should be generated.

[MrX1980]

Hello,is the logging still broken with win32 nightly (2.0.6) builds ?
My crash dumps are (also) always empty
The "Messages" window is not usefull for startup crashes.
So I cannot log/report my startup crashes.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Logging should not be broken.
Some crashes screw up the stacks and therefore cannot be filled.