visual studio 2010 breakpoint no symbols have been loaded

Question

I really have a problem, I have a VS 2010 solution and it suddenly stopped debugging for referenced projects, I just can debug the start up project but not the added as reference. This is weird because I created a new solution, added two projects and then I debugged in both successfully, did that in order to see if my VS config was wrong, but nop, It's something on this particular solution that is not allowing me to debug referenced projects.

I've read all possible solutions from this forum and other sources like Microsoft. If I go to menu Debug -> windows -> Modules the ones I want to debug are not in the list.

so, I read a Microsoft's page saying how to manually load symbols, I did the following:

To specify a directory where symbol files are located

On the Tools menu, choose Options.

In the Options dialog box, open the Debugging node and then click Symbols.

On the Symbols page, there is a box that states Symbol file (.pdb) locations. Above the box are four icons.

Click the folder icon.

Editable text appears in the Symbol file (.pdb) locations box.

Type the directory path. Statement completion helps you find the correct format.

If you are doing remote debugging, symbol files and symbol server caches for managed code must be located on the remote computer. Symbol files and symbol server caches for native code must be located on the local computer.

If you are using symbols on a remote symbol server, you can improve performance by specifying a local directory that symbols can be copied to. To do this, type a path in the Cache symbols in this directory box. If you are debugging a program on a remote computer, the cache directory refers to the directory on the remote computer.

Click OK.

That didn't work, I still can't see the modules I want to load so.. any ideas my friends ?

Solution 1

I solved, the answer might not be good I pretty sure but to tell the truth I had to uninstall and reinstall the application. Worked like a charm. I know, that takes a lot of time but I already spent time trying to solve the issue so ...

Solution 2

One more thing to check, just to be clear: Make sure you have the configuration set to 'Debug' and not 'Release'. You can debug the startup project in 'Release' mode, but not a referenced class library.

Solution 3

The holy trinity in such cases: rebuild all, restart VS, restart computer.

• Rebuild all: making sure that everything is up-to-date. If it doesn't work:
• Restart studio: in some cases, the debug symbol service gets stuck a won't refresh the loaded symbols with the newly compiled ones. In most of the cases restarting the VS will solve the problem. If not:
• Restart computer: brute force but effective.

Also, you should check if you're build emitting a debugable assembly.

Solution 4

I solved this like follows:

• Go to Project Property Page.
• On left hand side go to the Build tab.
• Search/Scroll down to for "Generate serialization assembly".
• In front of this text there is "Advanced..." button: click it.
• Make sure that you have Debug Info as full.
• Click ok and you are done.

Solution 5

This usually means that the assembly you're trying to debug is out of date (Your source is not the same as the one used to create the assembly). One of the problems I see a lot, is if the solution didn't build due to errors, but you didn't notice and end up debugging the last successful build. Make sure all projects are rebuilt, and successful.

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Comments

[Scratz]

You forgot Clean, and removing all temp files. Lol

[jim]

Try to FIX instead of patching!