How to: Debug COM Clients and Servers Using RPC Debugging

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

You can use remote procedure call (RPC) debugging to debug COM client/server applications. You must enable RPC debugging to use it. With RPC debugging enabled, when you step into the server call from the client, the debugger attaches to the server and lets you debug its code. When the debugger is attached, you can use all debugger features with both the client and server processes.

To enable RPC debugging

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.

2. In the Options dialog box, click the Debugging folder.

3. Click the Native page.

4. Select the RPC debugging check box.

   Note

   To debug RPC calls, you must have Administrator or Power User privileges.

   Note

   RPC stepping into a remote server that runs Microsoft Windows Vista will work only if a native debugger is attached to the remote server. Otherwise, the RPC call will fail without an error message. Otherwise the RPC call will complete, but the step-into the RPC call will not work.

See Also

COM Server and Container Debugging
Debugging in Visual Studio