I'm running my .NET 4.0 (C#) project in debug mode after I start VS2013. It runs just fine.
The second time I start it from VS, I get the Dialog box that says "Error while trying to run project: Unable to start program C:\path\to\file.exe"
The process is still alive in the Taskmanager when I dismiss the dialog box.
From Windows Explorer, I can run the program just fine. And after closing it, the process is gone too from the Task Manager.
A rebuild doesn't help.
Is this a common problem with a known solution?
I had an issue similar to this and I had to clear the component cache instruction can be found Here.
Hope this helps.
For my case, it cause by Platform target, you could force choose it to x86 or x64 which your project is:
Each Project's Properties > Build > Platform target
As I pointed out also here, the only solution that worked for me was to disable the ConEmu integration:
ConEmu → Settings → Integration → Default term → disable Force ConEmu as default terminal for console applications
Some users reported that it was enough for them to disable the Aggressive mode in that same settings tab; that wasn't the case for me though.
The topic is old, but this might help someone else.
So in my case I made a file in Visual Studio with .cp extension (accidentally deleted the last 'p') this made visual studio just "include" the the file and not mark it as a compilation unit, thus not compiling it, I looked the *.vcxproj file in a text editor and found out about this, so if you open the project file in a notepad or something just find your file at the bottom usually and change from <Item .../> to <ClCompile .../>
I was getting similar errors. I just had to restart visual studio. Sometime couple times a day.
I had a similar error and resolved it by cleaning the solution. Right-click the solution name in Solution Explorer and choose Clean Solution.
I found a solution here:
Please check "Use Managed Compatibility Mode" under Tools|->Options->Debugging->General.
I'm Brazilian, I don't speak English very well. I did this translation on google translator.
I know the topic is old, but it can still help someone.
I had this same problem in the following situation, I have a dual boot computer (linux debian 11 and windows 10). Inside debian, on my NTFS D disk, I created a folder to perform programming tests. After accessing that same folder with windows, I created a new project in visual studio inside that same folder that I had created in linux. The creation of the project went without problems, however when I tried to run the project (F5), I received the same error from this topic. I tried all the solutions I found on the internet, and nothing worked. I gave all permissions to my admin user and it still didn't work. Then I realized that even going straight to the folder where the application's executable was and clicking directly on it, I still received the access denied error message. So, I took the project out of the folder I had created in linux, and it worked. So, what I could conclude, is that because the folder where my project was was created in linux, for some reason, my windows didn't trust this folder, so it didn't allow running executables from inside that folder, even this one executable having been created by visual studio from within windows.
Just simply create a folder name as "projects" in c drive and copy paste the newly created project in it. Run the project by doing clean & Build or Rebuild method . It will work
open the folder which contains the solution in visual studio.
again, open your *.sln file by double clicking it inside the solution explore once opened try running the solution or rebuild the solution. once rebuild gets completed, it will open without error from next time.
My way of solving the error : error while trying to load project : Unable to start program and c:\Path\to\file.exe was simply by
First restart Visual Studio
Click the build icon
Select the rebuild option
Run the Program or Debug the Program
This was a weird one. Going to put what happened to me here because it might happen to someone else. Everything was fine with the app until suddenly after some fairly insignificant code changes I suddenly started getting this error. Visual Studio was compiling the executable just fine. But, the moment I tried to run it (either from Visual Studio or directly) the executable file would be automatically deleted right out of the Debug folder. Super odd--never seen anything like it. I began to get suspicious that perhaps an anti-virus or the OS was somehow identifying a checksum or some signature in the executable as "dangerous". Or perhaps some obscure compilation bug was corrupting the executable. So on a hunch I made another innocuous change (added a couple of lines of code to color code some text in a rich text box) and the problem went away.
I'm a C# programmer and recently I've installed Visual Studio 2013. The problem is when i set a break point or get an error and trying to edit the codes while debugging I get this error and I couldn't find the same error searching on Google.
Changes are not allowed for this module as it was not built for
changes while debugging or the target .NET runtime version does not
support it
I also tried to check the options on Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> Edit and Continue, But didn't help.
Any idea what the problem is?
To edit a C# program while you're running it in Visual Studio 2013:
Go to Project, Properties, Build.
Set Platform target: x86
Disable "Optimize code"
Set Advanced, Debug Info: Full
I came across the same issue and found that "solution configuration" on the top bar was changed to Release from Debug,because I build the last version into Release folder.Changing back to Debug mode will solve the issue.
The code your probably modifying is included in the exception. Since, your code is not posted here, I can't say. So please refer to this link and check whether it is really not allowed.
We just had the same issue in Visual Studio 2013 and in our case it was because we had disabled the Visual Studio Hosting Process on the Debug tab in Project Settings.
You can try
Right click 'Solution' in the Solution Explorer.
Select Properties.
Choose Configuration Properties from the left menu.
Select 'Debug' from the dropdown list in the upper-left corner labeled 'Configuration:'.
I just had the same problem and found a solution that worked for me right here after trying 100 other things:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/12543388/5367013
1.) execute VsPerfCLREnv /globaloff
2.) reboot your computer
In a Web Forms application, I initially received the "Changes are not allowed for this module as it was not built for changes while debugging or the target .NET runtime version does not support it" error message. Based on suggestions above I completed the following:
Right click the project name, just under the Solution name in Solution Explorer and select Properties, the "Build" tab
Set Platform target: x86 (Note, for me this was already set)
Disable "Optimize code"
Click the “Advanced” button (near bottom) and set, Debug Info: Full
I tried to modify code, but then I received the "Edit and Continue" window stating "Changes are not allowed while code is running."
Here was the important part: I can only make changes while stopped at a breakpoint. If the page is loaded, I get that same "Changes are not allowed..." message. So set a breakpoint to a line above where you need to make the change, complete the update and you should be set.
Or (as I subsequently discovered) another way to modify code without using a breakpoint is to click in Visual Studio "Debug/Break All" (Ctrl+Alt+Break), make your change and then press F5 or click the "Continue" button. (Using this method you will might need a page refresh to see the mods.)
It worked for me by unchecking "Enable optimizations" option.
Please refer below image for more info.
A C# desktop application (on the Visual Studio Express edition) worked, but then it didn't work 5 seconds later.
I tried the following:
Ensure debug configuration, debug flag, and full debug information are set on all assemblies.
Delete all bin and obj folders and all DLL files related to the project from my entire machine.
Recreate projects causing the problem from scratch.
Reboot.
I have two Windows Forms projects in the solution. One of them loads the debug information, one doesn't. They both refer to the assembly I'm trying to get debug information on in exactly the same way in the project file. Any ideas?
I want to add here, mostly for myself when I come back to review this question, that symbols are not loaded until the assembly is loaded, and the assembly is not loaded until it is needed. If the breakpoint is in a library that is only used in one function in your main assembly, the symbols will not be loaded (and it will show the breakpoint as not being hit) until that function is called.
Start debugging, as soon as you've arrived at a breakpoint or used Debug > Break All, use Debug > Windows > Modules. You'll see a list of all the assemblies that are loaded into the process. Locate the one you want to get debug info for. Right-click it and select Symbol Load Information. You'll get a dialog that lists all the directories where it looked for the .pdb file for the assembly. Verify that list against the actual .pdb location. Make sure it doesn't find an old one.
In normal projects, the assembly and its .pdb file should always have been copied by the IDE into the same folder as your .exe, i.e. the bin\Debug folder of your project. Make sure you remove one from the GAC if you've been playing with it.
Check to make sure that you are not in release but in Debug.
When in debug:
First try rebuilding your project by right mouse click the project > Rebuild
If that doesn't work, try a clean of the project (right mouse click on the project > clean)
If that didn't work check this:
Right mouse click your project
Select [Properties]
Select the [Build] tab
Make sure [Define DEBUG constant] and [Define TRACE constant] are checked
Make sure [Optimize Code] is unchecked
Click the [Advanced] button at the bottom of the Build tabpage
Make sure that [Debug Info:] is set to [full]
Click [OK] and rebuild the project ;-)
(step 7 generates the .pdb files, these are the debugging symbols)
Uncheck the "Enable Just My Code" option in the
Tools/Options/Debugging/General
Just something simple to try - you may have tried it already.
Right click the Solution in solution explorer, click "clean solution", this deletes all the compiled and temporary files associated with a solution.
Do a rebuild of the solution and try to debug again.
I've also had troubles with breakpoints multiple projects in a solution - some compiled as x86, some as x64.
The selected answer led me to fix my problem. But I need to do a few things more:
Even with "Debug" selected in the dropdown:
And in the project Properties > Build:
The Visual Studio was not loading symbols to a specific project. So in that dropdown I select "Configuration Manager" and saw that the settings to my web project was incorrect:
Then I set that to "Debug" and it started to generate the .pdb file.
BUT I need to manually copy the PDB and DLL and put in the folder that VS was looking (here is where the selected answer helped me):
Sometimes, even though it gives you this error, the Breakpoint still gets hit, so just ignore the error.
This happens fairly often in the Views of an MVC web app, i.e. .cshtml.
I was able to fix the error by simply setting the option in the 'Attach to Process' to 'Automatically determine the type of code to debug' option as shown in the attached screenshot.
Simply follow the steps below:
Go to Debug from the menu bar
Click on Attach to Process
Near the Attach to option, click on the Select button
The Select Code Type window will appear
Now select the option Automatically determine the type of code to debug and click the OK button.
Debug > Windows > Modules to see what modules were being loaded put me in the right direction.
In my case IIS Express seemed to be loading a different DLL from the temporary ASP.NET files.
The solution?
Browse to C:\Users\<YOUR USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\Temporary ASP.NET Files\vs
Delete everything in this directory!
Check if your .pbd file is missing in your bin/Debug folder. If it is then go to "Properties" of your project, selected "Build" and then "Advanced" at the bottom. Choose "full" under "Debug info" in the new window that appeared. This was my issue and solved it for me.
In my case "Optimize Code" was checked in my project properties. This caused VS to see my assembly as "not my code", and in turn, it did not load symbols for it.
The solution was to uncheck this.
Try running visual studio as an administrator within windows.
You need to enable "Generate debug info" in compiler settings
I tried everything mentioned above, but nothing worked.
[Clean solution, and check for PDB files etc.]
Even publishing the same solution did not resolve the issue.
Then I went to back to what I usually do to resolve (fool this stubborn Visual Studio)
All I did was to make a deliberate change in code and publish the solution.
Then I reverted the change and published again.
Voila [PDB files rid of evil spirits].. Not a smart resolution, but this did work.. :-|
We found the cause of our problem. This code was using the "CodeBehind" attribute in the Page directive of the .aspx file instead of the "CodeFile" attribute (ASP.NET 2.0 and beyond). After days of desperation, a simple search and replace solved the problem.
Option "Start debugging, Debug + Windows + Modules" does not exist in Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 edition.
Unchecking "Use Managed Compatibility Mode" in Tools Options Debugging fixes this.
Webapplications (IIS Express) only:
Rightclick IIS Express Tray and close the IIS.
Clean Solution
Clean solution and Rebuild
Check the configuration is set to Debug
Make sure that the PDB file is in the Debug folder it self
From Debug menu click Enable All Break points
Make sure you're in Debug and not is release by choosing debug in the dropdown menu like you can see in the picture below.
Then, try cleaning your project by clicking the right button in your mouse on the solution in the solution explorer window and choosing Clean solution.
Then rebuild your solution by clicking the right button in your mouse on the solution in the solution explorer window and choose Rebuild solution
Check are the following two setting the same in Visual Studio:
Right click test project, go to Properties, Build tab, and look at Platform target
Mine are all set to "Any CPU" so x64
On the Main Menu bar, go to Test, Test Settings, Default Processor Architecture
Mine was set to X86
Changing this to X64 to match above setting made the built in Visual Studio menu “Debug Test(s)” work and hit breakpoints that were previously ignored with the message “The breakpoint will not currently be hit. No symbols have been loaded for this document”.
Update:
For Visual Studio 2019 the menus have been moved around a bit:
I also had the same issue what I rebuild the whole solution (including refereced projects) in x86( or x64)
Even though I set all of my projects to x86 from Configuration Manager (Build->ConfigManager) some of my projects were not set to x86.
So Just to make sure right click on the project and follow
project -> properties -> Debug Tab, verify Configuration and Platform.
The .dll where I want to stop debugger and the associated .pdb files where copied near the .exe file. Those files had an older date so I thought they weren't updated in the runtime. I manually deleted them, Visual Studio create another pair AND put this new pair near the .exe. Now the breakpoint works!
Maybe Visual Studio cannot copy and REPLACE existing files (.dll and .pdb) near the .exe since there are another there. So if I deleted manually then VS could create new one near .exe.
I think that the root cause of the problem is that the Visual Studio use another file in runtime, no the file from the project, with the stop.
Instead of doing all these things just Close and reopen
Project Properties (then select your build config) > Build Tab > Advanced... > Debug Info (dropdown)
Set to 'all' or 'pdb-only' then rebuild
This took me a while tried other options above and for some strange reason debugging stopped working.
Tool -> Options -> Debugging -> General -> (untick) "Require source files to exactly match the original version" option
I was integrating a C# application with a static library using VS10 - which I'm new to. I wrote a managed code dll to interface them. I could set breakpoints everywhere but the static lib. I got the message described above - no symbols have been loaded for this document. I tried many of the suggestions above. I could see that the symbols weren't being loaded. I finally noticed a check box Configuration Debug, Enable unmanaged code debugging. That allowed me to set breakpoints in the static lib functions.
In my case, I was compiling a class library (DLL). No modules seem to be loaded in Debug -> Modules, so I couldn't even load the symbols manually.
My solution was to add this line to my code:
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
Once this code is reached, an exception is triggered and .NET Framework shows a dialog box asking which Visual Studio (i.e. new instance of VS 2008, new instance of VS 2013, etc) you want to use to debug the program. You can choose the existing instance of VS with your project loaded. This will attach the process to your VS session and load all symbols, and now you can debug your project.
Of course, the compilation has to be done using the Debug configuration, not Release.
For an ASP.Net application, check the properties of the site, ASP.NET tab. Ensure that the correct ASP.NET version is selected.
I think the source if this error is, the debug symbols have a hard time surfacing to the solution after building for release.
I tried all the other answers -- generally, regenerating .pdb symbols or checking their location, cleaning and rebuilding project, ensuring active configuration is not Release etc.
What eventually worked for me is right-clicking on the project in solution explorer > Debug > Start new instance.
After trying a bunch of these, the thing that ultimately worked for me was this:
In Debug > Options > General, uncheck Enable Edit and Continue.
this happened to me after copy paste another webservice asmx file into an existing webservice, resulting in the same error when trying to debug the recently added service, to be able to debug I had to start without debug, then attach to the process. its weird but its the only way i found to be able to debug.