How to: Enable Remote Debugging

Visual Studio provides support for remote debugging, that is, the ability to debug an .exe on another computer connected to your network. The Use remote machine property on the Debug page of the Project Designer enables remote debugging of an .exe. When this option is selected, you must specify the name of the machine on which the .exe will run. The location of the .exe on the remote machine must match the value of the Make exe path property, which is on the Compile page of the Project Designer.

In order to debug on a remote machine, the following conditions must be met:

  • The remote machine must have debugger components installed.

  • The user of the local machine needs to be in the Debugger Users group on the remote machine.

  • The .exe must be in a shareable directory on the remote machine.

For more information, see Remote Debugging Setup.

To enable remote debugging

  1. Make sure that the remote machine is properly configured for remote debugging. For more information, see Remote Debugging Setup.

  2. With a project selected in Solution Explorer, on the Project menu click Properties.

  3. Click the Debug tab.

  4. Select the Use remote machine check box.

  5. In the Use remote machine field, enter the name of the remote machine, using the format \\domain\machinename.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Set Start Options for Application Debugging

Other Resources

Managing Debugging Properties

Remote Debugging Setup