Configuring non-domain user accounts for VMware remote debugging

Question

My development machine is on the corporate network, and I log on to it using my domain account. I have VMware workstation installed, but my virtual machines are not and cannot be a part of the corporate domain.

The problem is that I would like to use the VMware remote debugging option and debug from Visual Studio on the development machine into one of my virtual machines. One of the requirements of remote debugging is that the same user account has to be valid on both machines.

Is there are way to make my domain account valid on a virtual machine that is not on the domain? Or is there a way to make both machines use an account that is not a part of a domain?

Answer 1

If you are debugging native code (unmanaged) using msvmon.exe on the guest OS you can use No Authentication mode to allow any remote machine to connect and attach a VS debugger. This is insecure, and precautions such as appropriate host machine firewalls should be put in place, but this will function without the guest VM needing to be on the domain.

For moreinformation, see this Microsoft KB article, and this step by step visual guide for the connection procedure. Additionally, if you have any issues setting up msvmon.exe on the guest OS see this MS KB article for setup, and this article for firewall issues.