IE8 and VS2008: How do I disable script debugging?

Question

IE8 is out and apparently it automatically turns on script (JavaScript) debugging whenever you launch your project in debugging mode. Does anyone know how to turn this ofF? I scoured the IE8/VS2008 settings but didn't see anything.

Edit: You can't just go into Internet Options and disable debugging: http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/03/05/jscript-debugging-made-easy-with-ie8.aspx This is so you can leave debugging off for regular web browsing, but have it automatically come on when debugging. I want script debugging off for good.

THE REAL ANSWER: Even though someone already won the bounty, they didn't really answer the question. I went straight to the source (Microsoft) and ended up getting a blog post with some workarounds here. Sweet!

Answer 1

It's annoying, but you can do this per session:

1. Start debugging your website, F5
2. In the top menu, go to Debug;Windows;Processes
3. In my Processes window, there are two processes, one for IExplore:script and one for WebDev.WebServer.EXE:Managed. Right-click the IExplore:script lineitem and select Detach Process.

Answer 2

Have you tried this, in IE8, Open Internet Options > Advanced > Select "Disable Script Debugging" for both Internet Explorer and Other?

Answer 3

When I detach the the iexplore.exe process as described in the "per session" solution above it also detaches the aspnet_wp.exe process and dumps me out of debug.

The Options | Advanced | Disable Script Debugging" also does not work. Here's why: http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/03/05/jscript-debugging-made-easy-with-ie8.aspx

Apparently VS2008 turns it on for you, regardless of the Advanced setting in IE8.

The only work around I have found for this is to start the IE8 session first (such as with "View in Browser" from the Solution Explorer) and then choose Debug | Attach to Process in VS2008 and attach to the aspnet_wp.exe process.

Answer 4

Have you tried using IIS for debugging rather than the built-in web server (Cassini)?

I mostly use IIS for debugging and have not noticed this behavior with IE 8.

Might not be the most ideal solution, but it sure beats the heck out of having to manually attach/detach to the process every time.

Answer 5

As Jimmie R Houts suggested, use IIS rather than Cassini for a start.

How about a slightly different workflow on top of that, rather than hitting F5 all the time you can use Attach/Detach to control what VS will debug.

1. Build your solution
2. Start up your web browser of choice.
3. Navigate to the page your using.
4. In visual studio: Debug -> Attach to Process...
5. Select aspnet_wp.exe or w3wp.exe depending on your OS/version of IIS.
6. Select what you want to debug (Managed code/Sql)
7. Do whatever you want to debug on your page.
8. When you need to make a code change, dettach the debugger (press stop) - note your browser of choice doesn't close.
9. Make your code change, rebuild the solution, reattach the debugger and continue using your browser of choice.

I find this handy, because if you've got to do a couple of steps before you get to the area that you're debugging - with this method you don't need to redo all the steps. Certainly bits hitting F5 all the time :)

If you want to debug JS in Visual Studio, you attach to iexplore process and debug script.

Answer 6

Set the "Start Action" of your project to "Start External Program" then select the IE8 executable and as command line argument give the url of your project.

When you start the project with F5 the javascript debugging will be disabled.