what do i need to do to get windows debugger to load my vc++ symbol files and source

Question

I have a program compiled with vc++ 2003 which i am attempting to debug in windbg on XP.

I am compiling in debug. In the project properties I have set the linker to 'generate program database file' and in c++ properties i have set 'Program Database for Edit & Continue'

in windbg i have used 'browse' to set the file that i believe is my symbol file \debug7\myproject.dbg

and also tried just the containing folder \debug7

I have done the same to specify the image and the source,

For historical reasons the working directory is different to the directory in which the executable resides, this has also been set.

When loading i get the error: ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for ntdll.dll

when i step into the code it runs, producing the console output i expect and the stack overflow i am looking for, but i can't see any source code.

any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try using the !sym noisy command (see docs) which should give you a bit more information about what's going on. Also there's the itoldyouso command as described by John Robbins. After setting the symbol path have you got the 'reload' checkbox ticked?