Step into dll not possible (pdb available)

Question

I have a solution with many projects and some of them are located outside of the solution path (I copy the compiled dll's and pdb's as Post-build event with xcopy)!

If I want to step into the dll's they are located outside of my solution:

"The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document"

• all files (dll's + pdb's + exe) are in the same directory
• source files are at different places
• step into to the internal dll's is possible

Which steps are needed to be able to debug also the external dll's?

Answer 1

The simplest explanation is that the DLL simply isn't loaded yet. Double-check your assumptions with the Debug > Windows > Modules window, locate the DLL you are trying to debug in the list.

If you do find it back there then the debugger may have a problem reading the PDB file for it. Diagnose that by right-clicking the DLL and click Symbol Load Information. It shows you where the debugger looked for the PDB file.

In later VS versions also check the "User code" column in that same window. If it is set to "no" then use Tools > Options > Debugging > General, untick "Enable Just My Code".

Finally watch out for using a managed debugger to debug native code or the other way around. It isn't clear from the question since you forgot to document what kind of code you are trying to debug. You'll need to enable mixed mode debugging if that's the case.