The Debugger cannot continue running the process. Unable to start debugger

Question

I have a Lightswitch 2012 application. It's been working fine for weeks. I made some changes and F5 stopped working. When I click on Start (toolbar) it gives this error message and does nothing.

"The Debugger cannot continue running the process. Unable to start debugging"

Note: It does compile file, it just doesn't run.

If I rollback to an earlier version then it works fine - i.e. it is solution specific.

Here is a video of the current version of my solution with the problem: http://screencast.com/t/TD4RzLASO

and here is the previous version of the solution from earlier today (and no, I don't know what I changed). As you can see, at least it does something with F5 or Start: http://screencast.com/t/wX5fRDPz

Rebooting doesn't help... ;)

Bowlin

Answer 1

Maybe you should select start up project which can be started.

Solution Explorer -> On your startable project right mouse click -> Set as Start up Project.

I had this situation when i unloaded my main lightswitch project and other project which is dll has been selected automatically and when i reloaded my main project "The Debugger cannot continue running the process. Unable to start debugging" exception was shown, because debuger was trying to load DLL.

Forenoon

I agree, even with VS2013 this doesn't work. There should be a dialog box that says "Please select a start up project" dum de dum dum dum! – Dietetic

Wow, even in VS 2015, I found this issue today, and when I found this answer, changed my start-up project to another, then changed in straight back to the one that must start, and suddenly everything works again. – Mucous

Answer 2

Sometimes you need to start up a project which is compiled as a dll, for instance when testing WCF services. To do so: Projects -> 'Set Startup Projects...' -> Select 'Multiple Startup Projects' and set action to 'Start' for each one.

Cretic

Answer 3

It's a pity you didn't recorded the whole screen, so I can't confirm, but I had the same error a few times...

When this happens, my "output panel" isn't visible and even I try to go on Menu -> View -> Output the panel don't appear.

I need to restart my Visual Studio 2013. Then my output panel is visible again and everything works fine.

I discovered the cause was an extension which I installed on my Visual Studio.

Rameses

Yes, I am having the same problem frequently. A restart of Visual Studio brings back the output panel and it can be started. Very odd bug. – Robbyrobbyn

Answer 4

I encountered this problem after removing some projects from the solution. I wasn't able to pinpoint the exact cause, but closing the solution, deleting the solution file, then opening the project and re-adding supporting projects solved the issue for me. Kind of a sledge hammer, but only takes a minute to do if you don't have a lot of projects.

Alost

Answer 5

Also, there are some people that uses a "One Click" Certification in your settings that you'll want to make sure its set up right, re-install or unchecked in-which this case was my problem. I finally got it working myself, but check that too just in case. Again this would be for most Visual Studio Versions only. Im 2013 Ult.

Dooley