VS2010 and IE10 Attaching the Script debugger to process iexplore.exe failed

Question

So I am using Win7 x64 with VS2010 and have installed the IE10 Win7 Preview and ReSharper 6.1.

When I attempt to Start Debugging, I receive the following:

"Attaching the Script debugger to process '[1111] iexplore.exe' on machine 'MINE' failed. A debugger is already attached."

I can click OK and look at attached debug sessions - [1111] is grayed out and there is another instance of iexplore.exe with my solution title. I can attach manually and it works fine.

I thought maybe since there were two iexplore.exe pids there would be something wrong, there are not two tabs or windows open and I disabled automatic crash recovery.

Tried this: Attaching the Script debugger to process '[XXXX] IEXPLORE.EXE' on machine 'NAME' failed

Did not work.

Any ideas?

Denominational

My apologies. I have updated the answer as I stumbled upon the same problem again - this time I was able to properly resolve the issue I was having. – Denominational

Answer 1

There is a simpler fix for the JavaScript debugging issue in IE10:

1. Close IE

2. In elevated cmd prompt run this command:

   regsvr32.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll"
   

(or %ProgramFiles% on a 32-bit OS)

Trygve

This is not working. VS 2010 still show the error message. "A debugger is already attached." – Insist

It worked like a charm for me on VS2012 and it stops working as soon as I unregister it. Thanks a ton! – Mongeau

Ditto...This solution worked for Win7, 64-bit with VS2010 and IE10 – Mangrum

For me, worked perfectly at first time. win7 x64, IE10, VS2010 – Valse

This worked for me win7 64 bit and IE10,This should be marked as answer – Izard

This helped me on a German Win7 box (32bit), with VS2010 and IE10: regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll" – Allover

This worked for me on Win7x64, VS2010, IE10. Thanks for the help! – Jamiejamieson

Worked on Win 7 x64 with VS 2012 & IE 10 – Catania

Make sure to Run as administrator. – Literal

Very helpful. Worked on Windows Server 2008 R2 - 64-bit, VS2010 ultimate SP1Rel, IE10 – Scree

Probably could just upvote instead of posting the same comment over and over. – Pd

Thank you for removing a very irritating issue from my live. +1 – Blodgett

This work for me on Win7 - 64bit, VS2010, after update IE10. And run as Administrator is very important for normal user account. – Obnoxious

Works me - Win7 x64 / VS2010 / IE10 – Gravitative

Ok, I finally did get this to work on my machine after several failed attempts. I had to have VS2010 closed, not just IE10 as I had tried. – Doubleacting

I came across another solution: you can choose "browse with" , and then you might see two times "internet explorer". Just select the other one and set as default. Now it might work. Worked for me... – Kantos

Answer 2

The IE10 upgrade resets a whole bunch of stuff. I followed 2 steps to fix this.

1. In IE Advanced settings, under browsing remove the tick on "Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)"

2. Running this in command prompt (with administrator rights): -

   regsvr32.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll

The combination of these 2 and a browser restart of course fixed it for me.

I also agree, the marked solution above of un-installing is hardly a proper solution.

Takahashi

Why this was not selected as answer? Worked for me (IE10, VS2010, WIN 7 64bit). – Moya

I too had to make both of the changes you mentioned. If you try to attach in Visual Studio to the IE process, it doesnt even show Script debugging as a Type without those settings disabled. – Disentwine

Answer 3

I have exactly the same problem .. I found a temporary solution but I have to execute each time the same sequence is as follows.

1. Click on the menu "Debug"
2. Click on the "Window" menu
3. Click on the menu "Processes"
4. And right click on iexplorer.exe and "detach the process"

The problem is that every time I have to repeat this procedure every compilation of my project ...

Ishmaelite

This did the trick for me, although I had to attach to every instance of iexplore.exe. – Ukrainian

This is the closest answer to the problem at the moment. Anything can be configured for Debug? – Profluent

I was hoping that it would work for me too, as it worked for other people. But, it did not completely work. I could get rid of the alert that it was showing me and hence got an instinct that it will work, but it did not stop at the breakpoints. Am I supposed to detach the process after putting breakpoints or before that or it doesn't matter? – Elison

Interesting, any idea how to stop VS from automatically attaching? – Wilburnwilburt

Answer 4

I was having the same problem with VS2010 & IE10 (Win7). After weeks of trying to resolve this issue I finally decided to fire up VS2012 to debug my site. I also updated VS2012 to SP1 and restarted my machine and now VS2010 debugging works fine in IE10.

So try installing VS2012 SP1 to fix compatibility issues with VS2010 & IE10.

Arran

Thank you, this worked right away, I had tried almost every other suggestion. I wonder if the culprit is VS2012 and IE10 on Win7, or just VS2012. – Gauger

I tried the highest voted answer to no avail, and I already had VS2012 Update 1 installed, but I had installed it before I installed IE10. I ran the VS2012 Update 1 installer again, with the "repair" option, and it fixed this problem. – Valera

This worked for me. I have Win 7, VS2010 and then installed VS2012 Express (free version) and it resolved this issue. – Dong

It should be noted that it is called VS2012 Update 1, not VS2012 SP1. I applied VS2012 Update 2 (without having Update 1 installed) and it also fixed the issue. – Hyrax

Answer 5

Someone suggested that running this in an elevated command prompt would do the trick:

regsvr32.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll"

I tried it and it reported the dll was not found. I searched for the msdbg2.dll and it was not found. It is, apparently, hidden.

I ran:

regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll"

and it worked.

This was on Windows 7, 64 bit, VS2010 Premium

Traceable

Thanks, this worked perfectly on my machine (Windows 7, 64 bit, VS2010 Premium) – Maness

Answer 6

I have had this same problem with VS2010 and VS2012 on WIN7 + IE10 CTP back in December last year. I hoped this problem was solved in the RTM version of IE10, today I found out it was not.

I have tried every solution in this post, even installing VS2012 update 2 CTP 4, but nothing fixed the problem.

I decided to revert back to IE9. I didn't use the correct steps which are described in the answer by MonteChristo.

I uninstalled IE10 by doing:

1. Win + R
2. appwiz.cpl
3. Turn Windows features on or off.
4. Uncheck Internet Explorer 10
5. Reboot

Now this doesn't revert to IE9. Is just removes IE10. Not what I intended. So I installed IE10 again by using the same steps as above.

After that I couldn't help myself to test it one more time and surprisingly it worked I got my Javascript debugging back. What I noticed is the following. Before I uninstalled IE10, the run / browse with (see image below) listed Internet Explorer twice.

After uninstalling, installing IE10 it's listed only once. I don't know if it's related but I wanted to mention it.

Brenda

reinstalling IE10 fixed my issue – Octa

Answer 7

Try to reset your IE settings and then uncheck "Disable Script Debugger (internet Explorer)" under Tools->Internet Options->Advanced and reset your computer.

Noelnoelani

Answer 8

Even with the newly released IE10 for Win 7, the problem persisted. However, got the hint that installing VS2012 SP1 fixed this issue so I installed Visual Studio 2012 Express via Web Platform Installer (v4.5) -- seems to be fixed!

Cabrilla

Same for me: installing VS2012 express web edition fixed the IE10 issue in VS2010. – Equites

I have Visual Studio 2010 Premium. When you install VS2012 express web edition - can you still use Visual Studio 2010? – Traceable

yes you may install both side by side - been developing like that since Feb 26th with no issues. – Cabrilla

Answer 9

I've got VS2010 & 12 and IE10, Win 7 x64.

I tried all of the above (except downgrading to IE9, obviously) to no avail.

I had a hunch that VS2012 Update 2 might fix the issue, and I was right.

No cmd, no re-installs, no re-boots. It fixed it for VS2010 & 12.

I hope it helps someone else too.

Breeding

yes, this worked ! I also was using exact same config. I also downgraded to IE9, and nothing worked. Then I also did the VS2012 update 2 and now debugging in VS2010 with IE9 is working again (I suppose IE 10 would work as well) – Kantos

Answer 10

I have VS2010 and VS2012 on the PC. It was ASP.NET project and it didn't work for JS debugging. I try both version results was the same. Everything I did was out of success:

1. regsvr32.exe "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\msdbg2.dll" - didn't help
2. Checked/Unchecked "Silverlight" checkbox at the Property Page - no
3. Downgrade from IE 10 -> IE 9 -> IE 8 - no luck
4. Repair VS 2010 - doesn't work for me
5. In IE "Advanced settings" unchecked "Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)" and "Disable script debugging (Other)" - no

Finally, I have installed "Remote Tools for Visual Studio 2012 Update" and "VS2012 Update 4". I'm not sure what is fixed issue but it gone. And VS2010 and VS2012 started debugging JavaScript. Therefore, it seems some components were corrupted. Today, I think, best choice to fix this should be re-install IE, I mean downgrade it and install again, further you can install Update 4 for VS2012.

Please note:

"In Property Page window check box “Silverlight” must be unchecked"

Monody

Answer 11

I had a similar problem (using VS2012 RC) after updating IE9 to IE10 - I fixed it repairing the VS2012 installation - I got there since I had a suspect Internet Explorer duplicate in the debug dropdown list and, even if the debugger was being launched, I could not find the symbols loaded.

In VS2010 for sure there is not that dropdown, but maybe trying to repair could be a fix.

Karelian

I did try and repair the VS2010 installation - without success in fixing this issue. I have since uninstalled IE10 due to some gross incompatibilities of our existing code base. Yikes. Thanks. – Denominational

Answer 12

I have had the same problem since updating to IE 10 on a Win 7 Pro machine running VS 2010 SP1.

I tried numerous suggestions, but none worked. I finally fixed it by downgrading to IE 9, to wit:

1. Type "appwiz.cpl" in the Win 7 Search Box under the start orb and hit .
2. Click on "View installed updates"
3. Search for "Internet Explorer 10"
4. Right-click "Internet Explorer 10" and select "Uninstall"
5. Reboot.

Debugging works again.

Soldierly

This is what I ended up doing and will mark this answered - seems kinda funny. Thanks. – Denominational

Please remove 'Accepted' mark from this answer. As bill berlington mentioned - this is NOT a solution. If I suggested you to stop using Win7 and VS2010, would you accept it? – Bratislava

Running repair for VS2010 pro did not work. IE script debug settings had no effect. This will have to do until its actually fixed or I move to the prison like VS2012. I don't think I would call it a solution but it is a work around. IE 10 was not a requirement for me. – Loiretcher

The regsvr32 answer provided by Dmitri actually fixes the problem, or at least has a high likelyhoodof fixing it (worked for me). Please mark that as answer. – Acey

agreed, going back to IE9 is not a solution, the regsvr32 action below does it – Kantos

Definitely not an answer. This is surrender. regsvr32 worked. – Adamant

Okay so it isn't the best solution, however I do think there is merit here because all of these issues showed up AFTER installing IE10 (I installed it yesterday, not a strange coincidence). MS should probably fix this so people won't be tempted to uninstall their browser. This problem just wasted about 4 hours of my day. So thank you for the solution - good or not - at least one was provided. – Astrict

Yes the regsvr32 fix is the ideal fix: You get IE10 and a working environment. It does have merit! BUT! When evaluating potential updates I do not start with "How can I hack this breaking change to work". Regsvr32 fix is not ideal for corp environments where a hack/custom fix can cause potential errors down the line. Why is this dll registered/present? How will MS address this issue and utilize that dll in the future. Changing the system to a non-standard state in a corporate environment is a bad idea (though I'll do it on my home box). For the rest of us, we contact MS for a HotFix. – Soria