ASP.NET Debugging problem

Question

I'm building web sites in Visual Studio 2010. I recently upgraded to a new dev machine running windows 7 64-bit. Now, when I make a change to a webpage, I have to stop debugging, kill cassini, and start debugging again before the new code takes effect. I didn't have this problem in XP.

Things I've tried...

• compilation debug="true" in config file
  
• options->Debugging->Edit and Continue is enabled

I'm not sure if this follows under dynamic compilation or Edit and Continue - any help would be appreciated.

EDIT

One of my colleagues is not having this problem. He has an identical setup to me, using the same project, same build configuration (Any CPU)

Answer 1

As it turns out, this was my fault... I had experienced the dreaded "network BIOS command limit has been reached" issue. I found a post that recommended doing a regedit hack "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ASP.NET\FCNMode = 1", well this basically turns off File Change Notifications. Changing this value to 2, and applying the changes recommended in knowledge base 810886 fixed both problems.

Answer 2

The reason is due to the change from a 32 bit os to a 64 bit os. The ability to change code while the application is running is unique to 32 bit code. In a 64 bit executable, this capability is removed.

This is known as "Edit and Continue". See this question for a good explanation of why this won't work on a 64bit executable:

Why doesn't Edit and Continue work on the x64 CLR?

EDIT: Clarification:

This isn't an issue with the OS, but rather the build of your code. If you have your build configuration set to "Any CPU", it will run under the architecture of your machine (x64 in your case). You should be able to force this to x86 and be able to use Edit and Continue.

Answer 3

64-bit apps can't be dynamically modified during debugging. To be able to do that you'll need to change your your build target 'x86'. Easy!

Just change it back (if you really need 64-bit assemblies).