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Dump Requirements and Limitations

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When you debug a dump file, the computer on which you debug must have access to the PDB symbol files and the binaries for the program. Visual Studio can cope with missing binaries for some modules, but it must have binaries for enough modules to generate valid call stacks. Otherwise, the "No matching binary found" message appears in the Modules window. For more information, see Dump Module Loading.

If you load a minidump file that was saved with a heap, Visual Studiocan load the symbols even if the application binary is not found. Minidump files without heaps need the binaries to load symbols. However, minidump files without heaps are much smaller, which can be an important consideration if you have storage or bandwidth limits. For more information on the minidump format, see Dump Files,

In Visual Studio 2010, you can debug both native and managed minidump files by using the debugger windows.

Visual Studio 2008 did not support debugging managed code in the debugger windows. Debugging managed minidump files  required a tool named SOS, run from the Immediate window. In Visual Studio 2010, SOS is no longer required for debugging managed minidump files. If you still want to use SOS, see How to: Use SOS.

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Dump Files