Remote debug an external executable

Question

I've followed the steps listed in https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y7f5zaaa.aspx in order to get my application on the server to run remotely. This is good, but I must also debug through the code remotely. In step 10 of the instructions, it specifies that an executable must be built from the local computer, and copied to the remote computer.

10. Copy the executable that you just built from your Visual Studio computer to the newly-created folder on the remote computer.

My program doesn't run with the executable I built, but starts with an external program. I've place the .dll and .pdb files in the bin directory of the external program. While I can start my program, and see that my code runs fine, I can't debug my code. The symbols don't get loaded, even with the .pdb in the bin directory. I feel like it should be possible to debug my code even though it starts with an external program. Is there a step I'm missing? Or because I do not remote debug with the an executable I also built, is it not possible to remote debug my .dlls under an external program?

Answer 1

After you've built your dll file(s), copy them to the destination computer, and run the app on the remote computer.

After that, you should be able to go to Debug -> Attach to process... in Visual Studio and under the Transport section change to a "Remote (no authentication)" option. This will allow you to connect to the remote computer's process and debug the application from your instance of Visual Studio.

Answer 2

If you attached successfully to the process (are you using Visual Studio remote debugging tools?), you can use Modules window https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/4c8f14c9.aspx

To load symbols manually

1. In the Modules window, right click a module for which symbols have not loaded.
2. Point to Load Symbols From and then click Microsoft Symbol Servers or Symbol Path.