Bugging tools

Visual Studio includes its own debugging environment and debugging engine, which together are called the Visual Studio debugger.

For debugging managed code, such as C , using the Visual Studio debugger is often the easiest way to get started. The Windows debuggers can run on xbased, xbased, or ARM-based processors, and they can debug code that is running on those same architectures. Sometimes the debugger and the code being debugged run on the same computer, but other times the debugger and the code being debugged run on separate computers.

In either case, the computer that is running the debugger is called the host computer , and the computer that is being debugged is called the target computer. The Windows debuggers support the following versions of Windows for both the host and target computers. Symbol files store a variety of data that are not required when running the executable binaries, but symbol files are very useful when debugging code. If Windows stops working and displays a blue screen, the computer has shut down abruptly to protect itself from data loss and displays a bug check code.

For more information, see Bug Checks Blue Screens. You analyze crash dump files that are created when Windows shuts down by using WinDbg and other Windows debuggers. For more information, see Crash dump analysis using the Windows debuggers WinDbg. In addition to the debuggers, Debugging Tools for Windows includes a set of tools that are useful for debugging. Skip to main content.

This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info. Contents Exit focus mode. Learn more about installation and configuration in WinDbg Preview - Installation. To download the debugger tools for previous versions of Windows, you need to download the Windows SDK for the version you are debugging from the Windows SDK and emulator archive. Windows Hardware Lab Kit. Windows Insider - Windows Preview builds. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported.

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