Debugging with Dump File in VS2012

Question

I have an application that works fine on all machine bar a single client. I went on site and took a dump file...

I have read the documentation and correctly created a .DMP using the 'Kernel Memory Dump' option. This has created a ~300MB file and I have opened this with VS2012. I have set the correct paths to both the source programs .pdb (symbol files) and the Microsoft Symbol files.

The source seems to load and put me in to the following code for my application:

namespace SqlEditor
{
    static class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new SqlEditorForm(args)); // <- Stops HERE
        }
    }
}

This is looking fine so I attempt to enter the applications source further with a press of F11 and I get:

Unable to step. This operation is not supported when debugging dump files.

Now I have read many articles on this, including

http://wallaceturner.com/debugging-dump-files-created-on-another-machine

and it seems I should be able to step through this dump file as I have provided all the necessary information and the application that the dump was taken from was not obfuscated.

How can I step through and find out why the clients version of the application is not working?

Thanks for your time.

---

Note, I also have attempted to press the 'Continue' button. This gives:

The debugger cannot continue running the process. his operation is not supported when debugging dump files.

Answer 1

A dump file is the snapshot at the capture time, so there is no step in option for you.