How to debug vbscript with Visual Studio Community (2019)

Question

I'd like to find a free solution to debug vbscripts, and I tried Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition. I did the very basic installation with only one additional component, the Just-In-Time debugger. I ran all the following steps as administrator.

I have created the file Script2.vbs with this very simple script:

a=1
b=1/0
c=1

I started the command line (cmd.exe) and entered cscript.exe /x "C:\\...\\Script2.vbs

The script is executed and fails as expected at line 2 but

the problem is that the Just-In-Time debugger doesn't start.

(I expect the popup which is below "The Visual Studio Just-In-Time Debugger window appears" in this Microsoft article )

I have found in this question about the previous version of the Community Edition that there should be the option "Script", but I don't have it:

Note also that if I try to start the script from Visual Studio Community, the menu Debug > Start debugging is grayed out:

My main question is:

Is the feature of debugging scripts turned off with Visual Studio Community Edition ?

(which leads to the second question: is there a solution to debug VBS scripts for free?)

Answer 1

You can download the VBS debugger from my OneDrive https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvqkaKIXzvDieQeOGgxLJICZ-uY?e=3r5B91

It is called scd10en.exe .

It has disappeared from MS's web site.

Answer 2

If you are still interested, there is a way to fix Visual Studio Community. It's likely some missing pre-requisites. Therefore you need to "Modify" the installed options and find "Script" debugging options in the Individual Components setup.

For example this is my minimum set of components.

Answer 3

peregrinus gave the right answer so I Accepted it. Here are the details :

My test was with Visual Studio Community 2019, version 16.7.7.

1. I installed Visual Studio from scratch with only the following 3 minimal components

   • Compilers, build tools, and runtimes
     • C++ CMake tools for Windows
     • MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools (v14.27)
   • Debugging and testing
     • Just-In-Time debugger

2. I ran the VBS with the option /x to start the debugger
   CScript.exe /x Script2.vbs
   

3. A popup appears to select the Just-In-Time Debugger, I kept the options as proposed and pressed OK
   

4. The VBS code is shown, the debugger stops at the first line of the script
   

5. I can add a breakpoint at line 2, watch the variable a , and if I press Continue ( F5 ), that stops at the breakpoint, etc.
   

NB: for information, I now see the third debugging option "Script" in VS menu Tools > Options:

Answer 4

I installed Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition on a new installation of Windows 10 and experienced this same problem.

My initial installation of VS included just the ".NET desktop development" workload.

Once I installed the "Python Development" workload, the script option appeared under the Just-In-Time debugging options. No other changes were required.