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Problems remote debugging linux .net code from windows VM

I'm trying to get step through debugging support for a C# .net project that I'm building and running on a Linux machine. Since Visual Studio doesn't run natively on Linux, I installed it on my windows virtual box and am trying to use remote debugging through an SSH tunnel to attach to the Linux process on my host OS.

I feel like I'm very close. I can connect and attach to the process successfully, but when I try to put breakpoints in the code I get a warning saying that the module hasn't been loaded. I followed a troubleshooting guide and verified on the Debug -> Windows -> Modules screen that my application module is not there.

For troubleshooting purposes I created a simple default console app on my Linux machine using VS code. These are the files:

test-app.sln

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
# Visual Studio Version 17
VisualStudioVersion = 17.0.31903.59
MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "TestApp", "TestApp\TestApp.csproj", "{5021DE1D-9E17-4375-B5CA-0556BB75AA08}"
EndProject
Global
    GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
        Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
        Release|Any CPU = Release|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
        HideSolutionNode = FALSE
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
        {5021DE1D-9E17-4375-B5CA-0556BB75AA08}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
        {5021DE1D-9E17-4375-B5CA-0556BB75AA08}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
        {5021DE1D-9E17-4375-B5CA-0556BB75AA08}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
        {5021DE1D-9E17-4375-B5CA-0556BB75AA08}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

TestApp/TestApp.csproj

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

TestApp/Program.cs

// See https://aka.ms/new-console-template for more information
Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
Console.ReadKey();
int x = 52;
int y = 3;
int result = x * y;
Console.WriteLine($"calculation {result}");

I tried running the application in various ways but the result was always the same. For demonstration purposes I'll use the approach in this guide and run with dotnet TestApp/bin/Debug/net6.0/TestApp.dll in the VS code terminal. I get my expected output Hello, World! followed by a newline where the program waits for input.

I switch to my virtual box running windows and Visual studio and load the same project from the shared folder. I attach the debugger to my host OS using SSH connection type and target the process with name 'dotnet' and title 'dotnet TestApp/bin/Debug/net6.0/TestApp.dll'. It's worth noting that there a bunch of other dotnet processes but only this one seems to contain the word TestApp.

I set a breakpoint in visual studio after the Console.ReadKey(); line and get a warning telling me the breakpoint won't be hit because the module hasn't been loaded. I check the loaded modules and see a bunch of c libraries but TestApp.dll isn't there.

When I press enter in the VS code terminal on Linux it prints the calculation result and exits without the breakpoint in Visual Studio ever getting triggered.

Solution

  • I use WSL to debug on Ubuntu from my Visual Studio, installed on Windows machine. Several months have passed since I have done this for the first time, but it was unexpectedly easy. As far as I remember I selected the dropdown for WSL from the VS, displayed here. After that it prompted me what I want to install and I just followed the prompts (with latest Visual Studio 2022).