Browsing the .NET Framework source code from Visual Studio

Question

I know that I can set up Visual Studio to debug through the .NET framework source code.

But is there a way that I can browse the code while NOT debugging - i.e., being able to press F12 or "Go to definition"?

I thought that if that feature isn't built into Visual Studio then there may be a plug-in that might add it?

Answer 1

There is a very new feature in Visual Studio 2017 version 15.6

You can see decompiled source code without any plugin! Btw, Ref12 doesn't work for VS2017.

Tools > Options , expand Text Editor > C# > Advanced, and enable "Enable navigation to decompiled sources (experimental)".

Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/go-to-and-peek-definition?view=vs-2017#view-decompiled-source-definitions-instead-of-metadata-c

Answer 2

With ReSharper it's possible to browse .NET sources by enabling ReSharper -> Options -> Tools -> External Sources -> Navigation to Sources. After enabling this option new menu item "Navigate To -> Decompiled Sources" appears by right click on type/method/whatever. Navigation also works with F12 for me.