What is the *.vshost.exe.config file?

Question

When I compile an application with VS2008 I sometimes end up with 2 identical config files:

• *.exe.config
• *.vshost.exe.config

What is the latter one for?

Answer 1

When debugging inside VS your application will be called [appname].vshost.exe and so the .vshost.exe.config file is where the .net runtime will look for the program's config.

Answer 2

Here's a blog post that talks about the vshost process and its purpose.

http://blogs.msdn.com/dtemp/archive/2004/08/17/215764.aspx

Answer 3

Here is a post on What is the vshost.exe file? What is its purpose and how you can disable the creation of that file.

http://dotnetrobert.com/?q=node/25

Hope you find it useful.