How to debug without Visual Studio?

Question

Python -> c++ dll -> c# dll

I have a com interop c# dll that is loaded in a wrapper c++ dll throught the .tlb file generated in c# to be used in a python project. When I run in my computer it works fine but when I run in a computer that just got formated it gives:

WindowsError: exception code 0xe0434f4d

I have the redistribute c++ installed and the .net compact framework 3.5 on the formatted computer.

How can I see what is the correct exception on a computer that does not have visual studio installed? How can I debug all of this? I can't debug the dll's itself can I?

Note: in my computer all works well so maybe is some dll or file missing. I allready used Dependency Walker to see if there's some dll missing, and nop!

Answer 1

Download the Microsoft Debugging Tools for Windows. It contains the WinDbg debugger, which can also be used for debugging.

Advantage of WinDbg over Visual Studio is that you have much more low-level commands to find problems.

Disadvantage of WinDbg is that it's not that user friendly (compared to Visual Studio).

Answer 2

You can use WinDbg or other good applications to attach to the process or even run the application in the debugger application.

Another really good software is OllyDbg .

Both of these will both allow you to set breakpoints on different locations in your application.