How to: Run the Remote Debugging Monitor

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The Remote Debugging Monitor (msvsmon.exe) is a small application that Visual Studio connects to for remote debugging. During remote debugging, Visual Studio runs on one computer (the debugger host) and the Remote Debugging Monitor runs on the remote computer together with the applications that you are debugging.

Before you can start remote debugging, you must set up remote debugging. For more information, see How to: Set Up Remote Debugging.

You must also make sure that you have the required permissions for debugging on the remote computer. For more information, see Remote Debugging Permissions.

As soon as you have done these two things, you are ready to run the Remote Debugging Monitor and begin remote debugging.

The first time that you run the Remote Debugging Monitor, it must configure the Windows Firewall on the computer where it is installed. This configuration is necessary to enable remote debugging. On Windows Vista, permission for this configuration must be granted in the User Account Control dialog box, which appears when configuration is required. This configuration is not necessary if you have already configured the Windows Firewall using the Remote Debugger Configuration Wizard. For more information, see How to: Set Up Remote Debugging.

Note

The dialog boxes and menu commands you see might differ from those described in Help depending on your active settings or edition. To change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.

To start the remote debugging monitor

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Visual Studio 2008, point to Visual Studio Tools, and then click Remote Debugger.

   -or-

   Run msvsmon.exe at the Windows Command Prompt.

   The Remote Debugging Monitor runs as a Windows application. The user interface shows that the Remote Debugging Monitor is running and makes remote debugging easy to set up.

2. You can now configure the Remote Debugging Monitor for remote debugging in one of two modes:

   • To set up remote debugging in Windows Authentication mode, see How to: Set Up Windows Authentication Mode.

   • To set up remote debugging in No Authentication mode(for native code only), see How to: Set Up "No Authentication" Mode. No Authentication mode enables faster debugging on slow networks. However, it is not secure and should be used only on secure networks.

Running the Remote Debugging Service (ASP.NET and Other Server Environments)

For debugging in ASP.NET and other server environments, you can run the Remote Debugging Monitor as a Windows service (the Remote Debugger Service.)

To configure the remote debugging monitor as a service

1. Click Start, choose Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, point to Visual Studio Tools, and then click Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger Configuration Wizard.

2. Follow the steps in the wizard to set up remote debugging as a service.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Set Up Windows Authentication Mode

How to: Set Up "No Authentication" Mode

Remote Debugging Errors and Troubleshooting

Concepts

Just-In-Time Debugging

Other Resources

Remote Debugging Setup