How to debug a referenced dll having pdb

Question

I have two solutions in my workspace  say A and B   Solution A is an older project which I finished coding some time ago  In solution B  I need to use some classes from Solution A  To do so  I add a reference to the dll of one of the projects in solution A   The problem is when I try to debug  I want to be able to step into A s code as well  Visual studio is not able to load the code for these classes   There is no source code available for the current location    and I can only view the disassembly  which is not useful   The only way I know to debug classes from solution A is by running solution B  detach all processes  in the Debug menu item  and attach the process from solution A   However  this is very inconvenient and I can only debug A OR B at once   Is there a way to allow stepping into the code of referenced dlls  for which I do have the source code      Solution  My mistake was that I thought that a project can only be part of a single solution  In fact  a project can be part of any number of solutions  When you need to reference the old project  you should simply add the project to the solution  This is done by right clicking the new solution in the Solution Explorer   Add   Existing Project  Then  you ll be able to add the project reference  As others wrote  you should probably completely avoid using dll references to your own code  or other code you might need to change and debug    A very good reference to how solutions should be designed can be found in MSDN

User · Answer

It must work  I used to debug a  exe file and a dll at the same time   What I suggest is  1  Include the path of the dll in your B project   2  Then compile in debug your A project 3  Control that the path points on the A dll and de pdb file     4 After that you start in debug the B project and if all is ok  you will be able to debug in both projects

User · Answer

I don t want to include an external class library project in some of my solutions  so I step into assemblies that I consume in a different way    My solutions have a  Common Assemblies  directory that contains my own DLLs from other projects  The DLLs that I reference also have their accompanying PDB files for debugging   In order to debug and set breakpoints  I set a breakpoint in the consuming application s source where I m calling a method or constructor from the assembly and then step INTO  F11  the method constructor call   The debugger will load the assembly s source file in VS and new breakpoints inside of the assembly can be set at that point   It s not straight forward but works if you don t want to include a new project reference and simply want to reference a shared assembly instead

User · Answer

Another point to keep in mind  be sure the referenced dlls are not installed in the GAC   After testing  I installed my dlls into the GAC to do system level testing   Later  when I had to debug my code again  I couldn t step into the referenced assemblies until I deleted them from the GAC

User · Answer

If you have a project reference  it should work immediately   If it is a file  dll  reference  you need the debugging symbols  the  pdb  file  to be in the same folder as the dll  Check that your projects are generating debug symbols  project properties    Build    Advanced    Output   Debug Info   full   and if you have copied the dll  put the pdb with it   You can also load symbols directly in the IDE if you don t want to copy any files  but it is more work   The easiest option is to use project references

User · Answer

Step 1  Go to Tools-- gt Option-- gt Debugging Step 2   Uncheck Enable Just My Code Step 3  Uncheck Require source file exactly match with original Version Step 4  Uncheck Step over Properties and Operators Step 5  Go to Project properties-- gt Debug Step 6  Check Enable native code debugging

User · Answer

I had the same issue  He is what I found   1  make sure all projects are using the same Framework  this is crucial    2  in Tools Options Debugging General make sure  Enable Just My Code  Managed Only  is NOT ticked  3  in Tools Options Debugging Symbols clear any cached symbols  untick and delete all folder locations under the  Symbols file   pdb  locations  listbox except the default  Microsoft Symbol Servers  but still untick it too  Also delete any static paths in the  Cache symbols in this directory  textbox  Click the  Empty Symbols Cache  button  Finally make sure the  Only specified modules  radio button is ticked   4  in the Build Configuration Manager menu for all projects make sure the configuration is in Debug mode

User · Answer

When you want to set a breakpoint in source code of a referenced dll  first make sure that you have a pdb file available for it  Then you can just open the related source code file and set a breakpoint over there  The source file does not need to be part of your solution  As explained in How can I set a breakpoint in referenced code in Visual Studio   You can review your breakpoints through the breakpoints window  available via Debug -  Windows -  Breakpoints   This approach has the benefit that you are not required to add an existing project to your solution just for debugging purposes as leaving it out has saved me a lot of build time  Evidently  building a solution with only one project in it is much faster than building a solution with lots of them

User · Answer

I had the   pdb files in the same folder and used the options from Arindam  but it still didn t work  Turns out I needed to enable Enable native code debugging which can be found under Project properties   Debug

User · Answer

Make sure your DLL is not registered in the GAC  Visual Studio will use the version in the GAC and it will probably have no debugging information

User · Answer

The most straigh forward way I found using VisualStudio 2019 to debug an external library to which you are referencing in NuGet  is by taking the following steps    Tools   Options   Debugging   General   Untick  Enable Just My Code  Go to Assembly Explorer   Open from NuGet Packages Cache  Type the NuGet package name you want to debug in the search field  amp  click  OK   From the Assembly Explorer  right-click on the assembly imported and select  Generate  Pdb   Select a custom path where you want to save the  PDB file and the framework you want  this to be generated for   Copy the  PDB file from the folder generated to your Debug folder and you can now set  breakpoints on this assembly s library code

User · Answer

The following solution worked for me  It involves copy pasting the  dll and  pdb files properly from project A to B  https   stackoverflow com a 16546777 5351410

[c#] How to debug a referenced dll (having pdb)

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