Not able to debug external program from visual studio 2003 and .NET framework 1.1

Question

I am working on an old .NET 1.1 windows application. In the debugging configuration we have set debug mode to an external program which is an exe file. I want to debug that exe when I run this windows application. But when I set an break point I am getting an error "symbols not loading".

I tried all the things searched from google like

1. Reloading the pdb files
2. Deleting the exe and rebuild solution.

Nothing works. Any help on this would be helpful.

Update: Yes, I have the source files for the exe. I have 2 projects of type class library but of output type Window Application.Assume proj1 and proj2. In proj1 the debug mode in start action is the exe of the proj2. So is it possible for me to debug the proj2. I have provided the command line arguments as /profile:DEBUG^DEBUG.

Answer 1

If you are trying to capture exceptions thrown when using a precompiled executable then I would use the Attach Process option under the Debug menu heading.

You can use the pause option once attached which will stop the process from running, but I don't think that you'll be able to place breakpoints within the code. You will be able to capture exceptions and look at the stack though, but information is not as clear as if you had the source files available.