Continuing Execution After an Exception
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
When the debugger breaks execution because of an exception, a dialog box appears. For Visual Basic or C#, you will see the Exception Assistant dialog box, by default. For C++, you will see the older Exception dialog box. If you are using Visual Basic or C# but have disabled the Exception Assistant in the Options dialog box, you will see the Exception dialog box.
When the Exception Assistant or Exception dialog box appears, you can try to fix the problem that caused the exception.
Managed Code
In managed code, you can continue execution in the same thread after an unhandled exception. The Exception Assistant unwinds the call stack to the point where the exception was thrown.
Native Code
In native C/C++, you have two options:
You can click Break and try to fix the problem. While you are in Break mode, you can unwind the call stack by right-clicking on a frame in the Call Stack window and selecting Unwind to this Frame on the shortcut menu. When you continue to debug, the Exception dialog box appears again if you have not fixed the problem. Otherwise, the Exception dialog box will not reappear.
You can click Continue to continue execution without trying to fix the problem. The Exception dialog box reappears.
Mixed Code
If you hit an unhandled exception while debugging a mixed native and managed code, operating system constraints prevent unwinding the call stack. If you try rewinding the call stack using the shortcut menu, an error message explains that the debugger cannot unwind from an unhandled except during mixed-code debugging.