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Project settings for C# debug configurations (.NET Core, .NET 5+, and ASP.NET Core)

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You can change C# project debug settings in the Debug tab and Build tab of the project property pages.

To open the property pages, select the project in Solution Explorer and then select the Properties icon, or right-click the project and select Properties.

For more information, see Debug and release configurations.

Important

These settings don't apply to .NET Framework or UWP apps. To configure debug settings for .NET Framework, see Project settings for C# debug configurations.

Debug tab

Starting in Visual Studio 2022, choose Open debug launch profiles UI in the Debug tab to open the launch profiles UI and change debug settings.

Launch profile (.NET Core, .NET 5+)

Setting Description
Command-line arguments Specifies command-line arguments for the app being debugged. The command name is the app name specified in Start external program.
Working directory Specifies the working directory of the app being debugged. In C#, the working directory is \bin\debug by default.
Use remote machine For remote debugging, select this option and enter the name of the remote debugging target, or an Msvsmon server name.
The location of an app on the remote machine is specified by the Output Path property on the Build tab. The location must be a shareable directory on the remote machine.
Environment variables Sets environment variables prior to running the application process. For ASP.NET Core, see Environments.
Enable unmanaged code debugging Debugs calls to native (unmanaged) Win32 code from the managed app.
Enable SQL Server debugging Debugs SQL Server database objects.
Enable WebView2 debugging Debugs JavaScript with Microsoft Edge (Chromium) based debugger.

Launch profile (ASP.NET Core)

In addition to the properties for .NET 5+, ASP.NET Core launch profiles include several additional properties for the different ASP.NET Core profiles. These settings provide a simple UI for the project's launchSettings.json file. For more information on this file, see the Development and launchSettings.json section in Use multiple environments in ASP.NET Core.

The settings provided in the launch profiles UI include the following.

Setting Description
Launch browser Select whether to launch the default browser when you start debugging, using the URL you set in the Url setting.
Url Specifies the location of host URL for .NET or .NET Core. For a profile named after the project (that is, the commandName property in launchSettings.json is Project), the Kestrel server listens to the port specified. For an IIS profile, this is typically the same value as the App URL. For more information, see the IIS launch profile section under Configure the project.
App URL Specifies the application URL(s). For a profile named after the project, this property specifies the Kestrel server URLs, typically https://localhost:5001 and http://localhost:5000.

Visual Studio provides an IIS Express profile by default, and you can create additional profiles such as an IIS profile. These settings also correspond to settings in launchSettings.json. These two profile types provide several settings, such as the Hosting model.

Setting Description
Hosting model Specify In Process (default) or Out of Process. For more information, see Hosting models in the ASP.NET Core docs.
App SSL URL For IIS Express, the App SSL URL is typically http://localhost:44334.

Build tab

The following table shows build settings that are useful for debugging. For a complete explanation of build settings, see Build Page, Project Designer.

Setting Description
General > Conditional compilation symbols Define the DEBUG and TRACE constants if selected.

These constants enable conditional compilation of the Debug class and Trace class. With these constants defined, Debug and Trace class methods generate output to the Output window. Without these constants, Debug and Trace class methods are not compiled, and no output is generated.

Usually, DEBUG is defined in the Debug version of a build and undefined in the Release version. TRACE is defined in both the Debug and Release versions.
General > Optimize code Unless a bug appears only in optimized code, leave this setting deselected for Debug builds. Optimized code is harder to debug, because instructions do not correspond directly to statements in the source code.
Debug symbols Specifies the type of debugging information generated by the compiler. See Debug symbols. For information on how to configure the debug performance of an application, see Making an Image Easier to Debug.
Output > Base output path Specifies base folder for intermediate output. Output typically goes to bin\Debug for a Debug build.
Output > Base intermediate output path Specifies base folder for intermediate output. Output typically goes to obj\Debug for a Debug build.

Debug symbols

You can choose the following options for debug symbols.

  • No symbols are emitted

    Specifies that no debugging information will be generated.

  • PDB file, current platform

    Produces a .PDB file, a platform-specific symbol file that provides other tools, especially debuggers, information about what is in the main executable file and how it was produced.

  • PDB file, portable

    Produces a .PDB file, a non-platform-specific, portable symbol file that provides other tools, especially debuggers, information about what is in the main executable file and how it was produced. See Portable PDB for more information.

  • Embedded in DLL/EXE, portable across platforms

    Embeds portable symbol information into the assembly. No external .PDB file is produced.

For more information, see /debug (C# Compiler Options).

See also