Share via

How to: Use the Modules Window

  • Article
  • 11/15/2016

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

NOTE]

This feature is not available for SQL or script debugging.

The Modules window lists the DLLs and EXE that are used by your program and shows relevant information for each.

To display the Modules window in break mode or in run mode

  • On the Debug menu, choose Windows, and then click Modules.

    By default, the Modules window sorts modules by load order. However, you can choose to sort by any column.

To sort by any column

  • Click the button at the top of the column.

    You can load symbols or specify a symbol path from the Modules window by using the shortcut menu.

Loading Symbols

In the Modules window, you can see which modules have debugging symbols loaded. This information appears in the Symbol Status column. If the status says Skipped loadingCannot find or open the PDB file, or Loading disabled by include/exclude setting, you can direct the debugger to download symbols from the Microsoft public symbol servers or to load symbols from a symbol directory on your computer. For more information, see Specify Symbol (.pdb) and Source Files

To load symbols manually

  1. In the Modules window, right-click a module for which symbols have not loaded.

  2. Point to Load Symbols From and then click Microsoft Symbol Servers or Symbol Path.

To change symbol load settings

  1. In the Modules window, right-click any module.

  2. Click Symbol Settings.

    You can now change the symbol load settings, as described in Specify symbol locations and loading behavior. Changes do not take effect until you restart the debugging session.

To change symbol load behavior for a specific module

  1. In the Modules window, right-click the module.

  2. Point to Automatic Symbol Load Settings and then click Always Load Manually or Default. Changes do not take effect until you restart the debugging session.

See Also

Breaking Execution
Viewing Data in the Debugger
Specify Symbol (.pdb) and Source Files