Here’s a neat trick which allows you to debug a process by attaching a debugger upon process start. It’s useful at times when you can’t directly launch an application with debugger attached, or you have a process which accepts command line parameters which are not directly under your control (such as QTAgent32.exe, which is the MSTest unit test runner, launched by Visual Studio).
Image File Execution Options is a registry facility which allows you, amongst other things, attach a debugger to an application before its execution. Same trick allows, for example, replacing your Windows Task Manager with Process Explorer, or Notepad.exe with Notepad2.
Here’s how you set it up:
- Run
regedit.exe - Go to
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options - Create a new key named as your exe (example: yourprogram.exe)
- Create a new string value under your exe. The name of the string value is
Debugger, and the value isvsjitdebugger.exe
When you run the executable, you will see the Just In Time prompt asking you to select a debugger:
Select either an instance of Visual Studio from the JIT selection dialog, or attach with another debugger of your choosing, such as WinDbg, after which press No in the dialog to continue executing the process.
Don’t forget to remove the registry key once done debugging!