INFO: How to Install the Debug Symbols for Use with Visual Studio Products (296110)

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The following information shows you how to install the debug symbols on the different operating systems.

Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me

You debug programs on a computer running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me differently than how you debug programs on a computer running Windows NT or Windows 2000. The symbol files are in a different format. The symbols (.sym files) that are used by the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me systems cannot be read by other debuggers (for example, windbg, cdb, and msdev). These symbols must be used with the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me debugger (wdeb386/wdeb98/debugger.exe).

To debug a program on a computer that is running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me, you have two choices, as follow:

1. If some other debugger (for example, windbg or msdev) can read the program's symbols, attach to the program's process with that debugger when it crashes. Or, start the program from that debugger so that you can debug that program.

2. If the program has .sym files that the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me debugger can load, then load those symbols in the debugger. Run the program under the debugger until the crash occurs, and then debug it. The Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me debugger is not kernel-mode-only, as is the Kernel Debugger.

Windows NT 4.0

When you install Visual Studio, you also install the debug symbols of the Windows NT 4.0 base version. If you install any service packs on Windows NT 4.0, the correct symbols will not be installed.

During the last stage of the Microsoft Visual C++ installation, you receive the following message:

Setup has installed an icon in the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Tools program group that will allow you to install a subset of the Windows NT system symbols (.DGB) files from your Visual C++ CD-ROM. If the symbols are not installed, the Visual C++ debugger is not always able to determine the content of called functions.

For easier application debugging, it is strongly recommended that you install these files. See the Visual C++ Readme file for more information.

You can access the default starting point for this function in the following way:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, point to Microsoft Visual Studio, and then click Windows NT Symbols Setup.

After the initial instructions appear, you receive the following message:

Please insert the VC 6 CD_ROM disk into Your CD-ROM drive. Select Continue to proceed with the installationThe CD requested is installation disk Number One from Visual Studio or Visual C++ stand-alone.
The CD requested is installation disk Number One from Visual Studio or Visual C++ stand-alone.

Even when you perform a clean installation, you receive the following error message:

The version of the file does not match the corresponding dll on your machine. Do you want to copy it?

Click Exit to stop the installation program.

Then you receive another error message, as follows:

Not all symbol files are successfully installed on your system.

A list of Windows NT debug symbol files from the Visual C++ installation CD appears, as follows:

ADVAPI32.DBG
COMCTL32.DBG
COMDLG32.DBG
GDI32.DBG
KERNEL32.DBG
NTDLL.DBG
OLE32.DBG
OLEAUT32.DBG
OLECLI32.DBG
OLECNV32.DBG
OLESVR32.DBG
OPENGL32.DBG
RPCRT4.DBG
SHELL32.DBG
USER32.DBG
WSOCK32.DBG

Windows 2000

On systems that are running Windows 2000, you receive the following error message when you try to install the symbols from the Start-Programs-Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0-Visual Studio 6.0 Tools-Windows NT Symbols Setup link:

Directory name not a valid NT system directory.

For information about how to install the debug symbols, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/ddk/default.mspx

For the current debug files and tools, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/ddk/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/symbols/default.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sdks/platform/windbg.asp

NOTE: The installation information link shows you how to locate the .dbg files on the installation CD.