title: What are .ni.dll and .ni.exe files in a minidump?
body: <p>I got a minidump from the Windows Store Apps submission process (sent by a reviewer) because of a crash in my app. I am having problems loading the symbols for my app, because the error occurs inside <code>App.ni.exe</code>, a file which I don't know where comes from.</p>
  
  <p>My app only has a <code>App.exe</code> (and some DLLs), but the dump keeps referring to <code>.ni.dll</code> and <code>.ni.exe</code>. These files are nowhere to be found in my <code>.appx</code> or <code>.appxsym</code> files.</p>
  
  <p>My app is built for each specific platform (x86, x64, and ARM). It is the x64 version that crashed in the stackdump.</p>
  
  <p>My current attempts with windbg:</p>
  
  <p>Symbol path: </p>
  
  <pre><code>Srv*C:\Users\Vegard\Appdata\local\temp\SymbolCache*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols`
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Windbg attempt:</p>
  
  <pre><code>0:006&gt; !analyze -v
  *******************************************************************************
  *                                                                             *
  *                        Exception Analysis                                   *
  *                                                                             *
  *******************************************************************************
  
  Unable to load image Newtonsoft.Json.ni.dll, Win32 error 0n2
  *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for Newtonsoft.Json.ni.dll
  *** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for Newtonsoft.Json.ni.dll
  Unable to load image App.ni.exe, Win32 error 0n2
  *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for App.ni.exe
  *** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for App.ni.exe
  Unable to load image mscorlib.ni.dll, Win32 error 0n2
  *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for mscorlib.ni.dll
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong>: Trying to ngen App.exe (running as admin) I get the following error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; ngen.exe install App.exe
  [snip]
  This operation is only valid in the context of an app container. 
  (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007109A)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is an app container in this case? Where should I run it from?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong>: After a long while troubleshooting, and figuring out the root cause through other means, I have concluded that the minidump file I got was missing this information. No matter of coaxing could get the debugger to load the symbols for the files.</p>