Problems setting up remote debugging of C# program between two Windows 8/64 machines (VS2012)?

Question

I am trying to debug remotely a C# program running on a Dell laptop. I have the Visual Studio Remote Debugging Monitor successfully running on the laptop. I am able to successfully attach to the process remotely from the original VS 2012 project and debug it successfully. However, if I try to use the steps in this document so I can auto-update the EXE image after code changes:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/8x6by8d2(v=vs.110).aspx

As you can see that document works directly from the EXE file. When I try it I get an "access denied" error when I try to remotely debug the EXE. I thought this might be a rights issue for the EXE so I gave the user account, which has administrator rights, full control access to the EXE file instead of just read and Execute. I also made sure the user account had Debug privileges in the Debugging Monitor Permissions page.

Most of the SO posts I found on "access denied" have to do with being unable to contact the Debugging Monitor. I have no problem connecting with the Debugging Monitor, but launching the target EXE remotely is the problem. I also tried running the Debugging Monitor on the laptop and the VS 2012 instance on the remote desktop with admin privileges. That didn't help.

I'd like to get past this "access denied" error so I could do remote debugging without having to recopy the EXE file every time I change the source files, and instead have VS 2012 download the new EXE to the laptop, like I saw someone successfully do in a YouTube video. How can I fix this?

Answer 1

Do your user accounts match in both username and password on the local and remote machine? If I understand your question, that may be the issue.

If you're on a domain, use the same user account on both machines. If you're not, create identically named and passworded accounts on both machines, and use those for the local VS user, and the remote debugger user.