How to reproduce the process of searching pdb file.

Question

How to reproduce the process of searching pdb file.

Aleksandr Kazakov 1

I have a problem that, for some reason, dbghelp cannot find pdb file for module, so after MinidumpWriteDump function minidump does not contains information about symbols for main module. How can I reproduce the process of searching pdb file for module by MinidumpWriteDump function? Now I am trying to use SymLoadModuleEx function with SymSetOptions(SYMOPT_DEBUG);, but I am not sure if this is what MinidumpWriteDump does.

1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Microsoft External Staff

According to Getting the Symbols You Need,

If you have built a DLL or an executable file on your computer, by default the linker places the full path and file name of the associated PDB file inside the DLL or the executable file. When you debug, the debugger first checks to see if the symbol file exists in the location that is specified inside the DLL or the executable file.

You can check the release configuration and the MiniDumpWriteDump parameter compared to Writing a Minidump with Code.

Aleksandr Kazakov 1 Reputation point

2022-04-19T15:20:03.91+00:00

Yes, but that is not the whole algorithm. Then dbghelp.dll will look for pdb in other locations, so I want to reproduce the whole algorithm, not only this part. There are a lot of information on the internet about this algorithm, but I want to see the debug information at runtime, so that I want to see where dbghelp.dll looks for pdb and why it cannot find this pdb file.
Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-04-20T01:17:25.523+00:00
According to Specifying Search Paths, the order for (.pdb) files:

the absolute path embedded in the executable image

The UserSearchPath parameter in SymInitialize and the SearchPath parameter in SymSetSearchPath

The _NT_SYMBOL_PATH environment variable.

The _NT_ALT_SYMBOL_PATH environment variable.

The directory that contains the corresponding module.

Share via

How to reproduce the process of searching pdb file.

1 answer

Your answer