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# Debugging third-party apps in Visual Studio
Mon
29
Apr 2024
If you are a programmer coding mostly in C++ for Windows, as I do, you likely use Microsoft Visual Studio as the IDE, including its code editor and debugger. When using Visual Studio for development, we typically compile, launch, and debug the code we developed. However, Visual Studio can also be used for debugging third-party executables. Having neither debug symbols (.pdb files) nor the source code of the application will result in a limited debugging experience, but it can still be useful in some cases. In this article, I will share a few tips and tricks for using the Visual Studio debugger to debug external .exe files.
I think this article is suitable for programmers with all levels of experience, also for beginners. We won't be looking at the x86 assembly code, I promise! 😀 All the screenshots are made with Visual Studio 2022 version 17.9.6 on Windows 10.