Tools for Memory leaks in .Net executable

Question

Hello,

I am trying to test an application in Windows for memory leaks. I have looked at Linux alternatives (eg. Valgrind) and I am looking for a similar tool for Windows. The problem with .Net is that the memory is not released straight away like in Linux.

My knowledge of .Net is limited so my problem is I would like to use a tool that would find memory leaks for a Windows .Net executable. Ideally the program should be able to detect any memory leaks while I use the application. Does anyone know of such a tool or have any suggestions to solve this issue?

Thanks for any help in advance.

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Thanks for the responses. Can anyone tell me if any of these program's allow you to execute from the command line and output memory leak reports into a text file.

Thanks

Answer 1

Redgate has a nice memory profiler you can download here. It even comes with a 14-day trial. I have used it and it is very good.

Answer 2

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3927/what-are-some-good-net-profilers

Answer 3

http://dandesousa.com/2010/08/28/finding-memory-leaks-in-net-using-sos-dll-and-visual-studio/

Answer 4

Some others have already posted good links to profilers -- redgate's profiler is particularly good.

Here's a link to a good article on finding leaks in .Net:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ricom/archive/2004/12/10/279612.aspx

Here's a great blog -- the author is a support engineer at MS (these people are really good programmers that work in windebug all day to find problems). A great many of her articles are about trackign down memory leaks. Most of her examples are asp.net, but most of the techniques should apply to Windows apps as well:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tess/archive/2006/01/23/516139.aspx

Also, be aware that you might not have a real leak. By design, the .Net garbage collector does not immediately release memory. It does periodic collections that are triggered by various events (I don't think that MS has published a complete list of the things that will cause the garbage collector to fire). I do know that one of the triggers is low memory conditions, and another trigger can be a memory allocation. If nothing triggers it, the GC will not collect.

That means that you can start a Winform .net app, let it eat a bunch of memory (and then release it), and then leave it sitting all night long. If the computer has been idle for the whole time, the GC may not have fired, and the app still might own a lot of memory. When something happens to trigger the collection, memory will be freed. It's very common that people report that .net apps appear to be slow to release memory as a result of this behavior.

Go ahead and profile -- you might have a leak, but also be aware that this might be behavior by design. Either way, good luck!

Answer 5

We have tried a lot of the memoryprofilers for .NET and have come to the conclusion that the .NET memory profiler is the best one currently on the market with a good combination to ease of use, amount of availabele data and perfomance.