Question

When the debugger is attached to a process on remote server –

What locations are searched for the pdb?
In what order?
(e.g. is it searched on the remote server (debuggee) or on the local client (debugger))

When I use the debugger to manually load pdb file from specific location – is the debugger looking for the file locally or is it the remote debugger monitor looking for the file on the?

Is there any article that describes that process?

Answer 1

The machine the debugger is running on loads the symbols (not the remote).

This article explains the basics of setting up where VS looks for symbols:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x54fht41(VS.90).aspx?ppud=4

This one explains how to set up a symbol server in the search path (which is particularly useful for Windows symbols):

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b8ttk8zy(VS.90).aspx

There are a lot of pitfalls for remote debugging (mainly having to do with connectivity and permissions/authentication). See the following page for a list of links that you’ll want to read up for details:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y7f5zaaa(VS.90).aspx