iPhone Debugging: How to resolve 'failed to get the task for process'?

Question

The ad-hoc profile doesn't support debugging. You need to debug with a Development profile, and use the Ad-Hoc profile only for distributing non-debuggable copies.

I have had problems debugging binaries on the device via XCode when the app includes an Entitlements.plist file, which is not necessary to install onto the device for debugging. In general, then, I have included this file for release builds (where it is required for the App Store) and removed it for debugging (so I can debug the app from XCode). That may be your problem here.

Update: As of (at least) August 2010 (iPhone 4.1 SDK) the Entitlements.plist is no longer necessary to include in your application in many cases (e.g., distribution through the App Store.) See here for more information on the cases when Entitlements.plist is required:

IMPORTANT: An Entitlements file is generally only needed when building for Ad Hoc Distribution or enabling Keychain data sharing. If neither of these is true, delete the entry in Code Signing Entitlements. (emphasis mine)

I Had the same issue, but resolved it by following simple following steps :

1. Make sure you have selected debug rather than release.
2. In Debug configurations, in project settings, you should have selected developer's profile & no need of specifying the entitlements plist.
3. Also same setting are there under: Targets: , if not manuall change them to the above for the debug config. It will work.

All the best.

This took me a while to figure out.

If you are using a distribution / ad hoc/ profile you cannot test it through xcode. You will get the error: The program being debugged is not being run.

You can build the app, go to the products folder in your app in xcode, click on the file with your project name and choose reveal in finder. You can drag this app into into iTunes and sync and that point you can test your app on your device.

If you are getting such error, the only reason could be you using a Distribution profile rather than a development profile in Xcode or a missing Entitlement property. If you are not using the Entitlements.plist, then the only possible error could be the app is getting packaged with a distribution profile. You could verify this confirming the build logs. To change this, go to Build Setting of the project and verify Code Signing Entity setting. For debugging to work, this setting should be a developer profile for the configuration that you are currently using.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1682/_index.html

For instant results, delete all mobile provisioning profiles from xcode and install the developer profile that you intend to use.

Almost 2hrs on this issue! And finally I solved it by replacing the

iPhone Developer

to

iPhone Developer: My Dev Account Name

for Debug's CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY:

1. Select Project Target
2. Build Settings
3. Search by "code sign"
4. Modify CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY section's Debug row with "iPhone Developer: My Dev Account Name", not just "iPhone Developer".

I've no idea why it works, but it does! At least for me!

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Environment: Xcode 5.0 (5A1412).