Unable To Start Debugger: Visual Studio 2008
If, by chance, you’re like me and recently installed Visual Studio 2008 onto a 64-bit version of Windows, you may be getting the following error when you attempt to debug an application:
The components for the 64-bit debugger are not registered. Please repair your Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger installation via ‘Add or Remove Programs’ in Control Panel.
The reasoning behind this error is discussed here. In short, because VS2008 is still a 32-bit process, it cannot directly attach itself to a 64-bit application (.NET defaults to 64-bits when you’re on a 64-bit OS). As such, VS2008 needs to use the remote debugger to bridge the 32/64-bit gap. Unfortunately, this feature isn’t installed by default! In reading the error message, you are lead to believe that this can be fixed by adding additional components from the VS2008 add/remove programs screen. However, in actuality, you’ll need to run a separate application (found in CD-DRIVE:\Remote Debugger\x64). After installing the 64-bit debugger, you should see this problem disappear.
–Adam
Help! I know that this is a fairly old post, but I need help! I have downloaded visual studio express 2008 off of Microsoft’s website, where could I find the remote debugger?
Help! I know that this is a fairly old post, but I need help! I have downloaded visual studio express 2008 off of Microsoft’s website, where could I find the remote debugger?
Daniel,
If I’m reading this MSDN article correctly, Visual Studio Express doesn’t support remote debugging. I think that you may be out of luck.
–Adam
Hi..
Can you help me ?
i have OS: win server standard 2007 + SP1 64-bit.
I have installed VS Team System 2008 on it
as well as SQL Server standard edition 2005 x64
I am trying to debug stored procedure via VS and it is broken down…
when i try to attach to any x64 process error apears: “Unable to attach to the process. The data area passed to a system call is too small.”
attaching to x86 process – successfully…
Do you have any idea ?
Thanks..
Alexander,
I’ve never written or debugged stored procedures in Visual Studio, so I don’t know how much help I can be. The issue that I blogged about occurs when you try to debug a normal application, but it may be applicable in your situation as well.
After a quick web search, I came across this Microsoft article. However, I’m sure that you’ve already read it. If you end up finding a solution, let me know and I’ll do a write-up.
Good Luck,
–Adam
i found there is no machine debug manager service in my machine… as well as Just-In-Time Debugging Handler service..
there is no mdm.exe file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\VS7Debug..
dont’t you know where i can find instalation for this services ? )
According to this MS support article, the Machine Debug Manager can be obtained via Windows Update. You also might want to try a full install of VS2008. Perhaps you unchecked some necessary settings.
Thanks for the information…it was very helpful for me…
i installed VS 2008 on my vista machine and was not able to debug…as per u’r information i installed remote debugger from x64 folder and it worked…thanks very much….
Thanks for the help man! This perfectly resolved my issue!
thanks for this post, it saved me a lot of time
.
Thanks a lot. Problem solved.
Adam, thanks so much for your recommendation. I experimented the same issue and fixed as per your instructions in less than 5 minutes! (application found in CD-DRIVE:\Remote Debugger\x64).
Thank You !!