Cannot launch Visual Studio 2013 x64 local debugger

0
votes

Over the weekend it seems like a number of updates have been applied to my team's company computers and we are now unable to launch the x64 local debugger in Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 (Premium and Ultimate).

Here is the error message that is shown:

Visual Studio 2013 Debugger Error

It reads:

The Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugging Monitor (MSVSMON.EXE) does not appear to be running on the remote computer....

The error message talks about Remote Debugging, but we are not attempting to remote debug. The same message is shown when we attempt to attach to a local 64-bit process.

The same error is seen for a brand new x64 project.

2
debuggingvisual-studio-201364-bit
Visual Studio is a 32-bit process so cannot directly debug a 64-bit app, msvsmon.exe is required to bridge the divide. Why it doesn't work anymore is of course a complete blind guess, uninstall the updates. – Hans Passant
Yes; the problems one encounters when things stop working make one aware of the magic the really great programmers do so the rest of us can get on with our day jobs! – satnhak

2 Answers

1
votes

Whether it's local or remote, x64 debugging in VS uses the remote debugging monitor, just like the error message says. If it worked and now it's not working, any of the following could have happened:

  • you no longer have the required permissions to debug processes.
  • your VS (or MSVSMON) installation has been corrupted
  • your connection to the service is now being rejected by your firewall settings (you can see this one in the related questions tab to the side)

Bottom line is, work on fixing the connection to the debugging server started by MSVSMON, you are indeed using it.

0
votes

May I know which msvsmon.exe that you trying to run?

For my case I need to use msvsmon.exe from this location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger\x64

whereby this location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger\ will throw the error message as yours.

You need to make sure the permissions for your account is allowed by adding your windows account to the running msvsmon application (from Tools->Permissions menu)