How to stop IE asking which debugger to choose when **trying** to debug?

Question

When debugging in Internet Explorer; I first get an alert box with extremely limited if not useless information (sorry IE) and choice to debug it; After selecting yes; I get another option every time to chose between 'New instance of Microsoft script debugger' and 'New instance of Visual studio'. I'm fed up of having to click the yes button again after having clicking it once already on the alert box.

Update: I found that you can disable the microsoft script debugger from within its own options; just disabling the JIT debugger from Tools -> Options, and JIT. This stops it appearing on the menu but now I get the dialog box asking me which one to choose and it only displays the one Visual Studio - WHY? If there's only one option and you've already asked me if I want to debug, why ask again?!?! Bleh.

can you tell I'm getting sick of clicking, "yes" twice? Lol.

Answer 1

Maybe not the complete solution, but you could try to set the default script debugger can be set in the registry directly. To do so, follow these steps:

• Click Start, Run and type regedit.exe
• Navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ CLSID \ {834128A2-51F4-11D0-8F20-00805F2CD064} \ LocalServer32

• Backup the branch by exporting it to a file

• In the above key, double-click (default) and set its value data to:

  "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"

  (or whatever your path to devenv.exe is)

• Exit the Registry Editor.

Answer 2

Apparently the problem happens if you do not uninstall the old (crappy) Microsoft Script Debugger before you install the newer Microsoft Script Editor.

You would think that all you need to do is to uninstall the old debugger - however, according to a blog posting (which I can't recall at the moment), if you uninstall the Microsoft Script Debugger at this point, it will mess up the MSE and you will have to reinstall the MSE again. I am on a tight schedule now so I don't have the time to fix the problem properly - just living with it as best as I can.

Answer 3

If all other solutions fail, you can try another route: using a macro language (à la AutoHotkey or AutoIt) to dismiss all prompts with one key...

Answer 4

This is not what you're asking for, but others coming to this thread may want to know how to disable these completely. Just disable debugging all together under:

Options -> Advanced -> Browsing -> Disable script debugging.

Answer 5

Just disable the Machine Debug Manager in the list of the Services!

Answer 6

This happens because that's how the just in time debugging thingy was designed.

Generally I have multiple instances of Visual Studio running and that little box lists them all so I can pick the right one. You would think it would be smart enough to just pick the one option if there is only one option, but it isn't.