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Debug mode for Windows is enabled

The information in this article applies to:

  • Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server

  • Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server

  • Windows Server 2003

  • Windows Server 2008

  • Application-tier server

  • Data-tier server

  • Health check

The Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server queries a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class (Win32_OperatingSystem) to determine whether a value is set for the Debug property. An error appears if this key is set to True on a computer where Team Foundation Server is installed.

You enable the Windows debug mode when you add the /debug parameter in the Boot.ini file. This action loads the kernel debugger during startup and keeps it in memory at all times. If you have this configuration, a support professional can connect to the system that is being debugged and break in to the debugger, even if the system is not suspended at a Kernel STOP screen. The /debug parameter was probably set to troubleshoot a problem and left set unintentionally.

Performance decreases significantly when you run Windows in debug mode. Therefore, you should not run Team Foundation Server on a computer where Windows is running in debug mode. To resolve this error, remove the /debug parameter from the Boot.ini file in Windows Server 2003 or the boot configuration data (BCD) store in Windows Server 2008. For more information about the parameters that you can use in the Boot.ini file, see the article 833721, "Available switch options for the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Boot.ini files" in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. For an overview of how boot.ini parameters map to BCD options, see the Microsoft Web Site.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the Administrators security group on the computer where you will manage the boot settings.

To remove the /debug parameter in Windows Server 2003

  1. Log on to the computer that the error message specifies.

  2. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.

  3. Change the directory to the Windows system directory.

    The default location is Drive:WINNT\system32.

  4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    bootcfg /debug off

  5. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

To remove the /debug parameter in Windows Server 2008

  1. Log on to the computer that is the error message specifies.

  2. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    bcdedit /debug off

  4. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

See Also

Other Resources

Hardware and Platform Issues