Where can I find and download different version of mscorwks.dll and mscordacwks.dll?

Question

I'm trying to get used to working with WinDbg to troubleshoot crash dumps when I'm able to get them, but every time I do it seems it's asking me for a different version of mscorwks.dll and mscordacwks.dll, and I don't always have access to the machine the dump came from.

Other than telling end users they have to dig around in their Windows directory for these files on top of sending me an absurdly large "mini"-dump, is there somewhere I can get copies of different builds of these files? WinDbg doesn't seem to be able to find them through Microsoft's symbols server.

Juli

Why not just asking for full memory dump ? it will include the dlls inside and your will be able to resolve their PDBs via microsoft symbol server ? – Conqueror

I have, I've got them using Microsoft's tool from support.microsoft.com/kb/241215 to get a full dump, and WinDbg still complains for the .dlls. – Juli

do !sym noisy and post the output when windbg tries to load the dll pdbs/exe. – Conqueror

It repeatedly mentions downloading the .dll's from microsoft's symbol server and then complains that they're "mismatched". The entire contents of what it gives me is too long to post, but they're all like this one: SYMSRV: mscordacwks_x86_x86_2.0.50727.1433.dll from msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols: 320271 bytes - copied DBGHELP: C:\Program Files (x86)\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\sym\mscordacwks_x86_x86_2.0.50727.1433.dll\471EF72958f000\mscordacwks_x86_x86_2.0.50727.1433.dll - mismatched – Juli

See https://mcmap.net/q/266846/-what-to-do-with-quot-the-version-of-sos-does-not-match-the-version-of-clr-you-are-debugging-quot-in-windbg – Castorina

I also maintain an archive at sos.debugging.wellisolutions.de – Limitation

Answer 1

You are supposed to get the mscordacwks.dll from the machine where this dump was captured, and then rename it to the one expected by WinDbg (put it then into WinDbg folder usually). After that if you reload the dump and symbols you can get correct result.

You can copy that file from one of your machines if it happens to have the same level of patching (Microsoft hotfixes), but usually it is hard.

Yes, if Microsoft has a central place for us to download all versions of this file then we might be relieved, but before that we have to use this workaround.

Reference

• https://blog.lextudio.com/how-to-prepare-your-windbg-magic-box-43b5e9ad8a03
• https://github.com/mscordacwks/MscordacwksCollector

Update It has been mentioned elsewhere that you might be able to extract specific versions of mscordacwks.dll from hotfixes. It is doable but usually takes time to search for the correct hotfix.

Bamako

Not a particularly helpful way to do things on Microsoft's part, but thanks for the confirmation. – Juli

For anyone who lands here, I posted a related question and ultimately answered it myself. I provide a way to put these permanently into the right path in your own symbol store so that you and all your colleagues who use the same store don't have to keep doing this over and over every time you run into the problem. You only do it once for each distinct version of mscorwks. Here's the answer, hope it helps someone: https://mcmap.net/q/1502629/-can-windbg-be-made-to-find-mscordacwks-dll-in-the-symbol-store – Kempe

Get and rename mscordacwks and SOS from the machine easily: mscordacwks collector debugging.wellisolutions.de/download-mscordacwks-collector – Limitation