Visual Studio remote debugger "invalid access to memory location" feature

Question

This is another attempt to resolve the problem stated here. Unfortunately the topic was closed without adequate resolution found, as apparently the original poster had issues with symbols, not with visual studio problem itself.

Problem Statement: Visual Studio 2012 (and 2010 for the same matter) will stop attaching to remote process after a period of time with "invalid access to memory location". Restarting Visual Studio fixes the problem.

I am currently on VS2012 update 3, but the issue also occured in RTM, and all intermediate updates.

The referenced thread suggests patching operating system with hotfix 2588507, however I am unable to apply it, because it seems to be not downloadable, possibly because of intermittent issue.

Have anybody successfully addressed this problem and if yes then how?

Buckskin

Answer 1

The hotfix 2588507 ended up resolving the issue after all. I am running several instances of visual studio 2012 for several days, and debugging remote processes constantly, and have not seen yet a single "invalid access to memory location"

Buckskin

Which computer did you install this on, the dev box, the server or both? – Freiman

Applied to my dev box. Did not need to restart my computer, just closed VS2012 before installing the hotfix and then reopened after and all was well! – Huckaby

This hotfix resolved the issue for me as well (when applied to dev box) – Deceased

Cheers for that, helped me out with VS2013. – Tint

Also works in VS2015 (Windows 7). Helped me to enable debug of azure app. – Transect

Answer 2

I found a simple workaround for this. Change the debug port on the remote machine (Tools --> Options). I would use something arbitrarily high, like 63342 to avoid colliding with any existing ports but you just need to use any unused one. Once changed, you should be able to connect.

Gamaliel

Worked for me. I had the same issue on VS2015 :) – Calciferol

Sorry, didn't find the place to change port, could you explain more about setting under Tool > Options> ? – Camboose

this worked for me as well... used the port suggested by @Gamaliel – Jugulate

Answer 3

I came accross this error message in VS2013 and resolved it by running VS with administrator priviledges.

Hope this helps out someone.

Pam

In my case I was already running "As Administrator". I was able to resolve the problem by restarting Visual Studio. My version 2013 Update 4. – Hubbard

This was occurring intermittently for me on Visual Studio 2015 until I restarted as Admin. I don't know for certain that it wasn't just the restart that resolved the issue, but this answer did prod me in the right direction. – Orthoscope

I was also having issues with this in Visual Studio 2015, running under administrator, and a restart resolved my intermittent issues as well. – Lucilucia

Came across this error in Visual Studio 2017 as well. At the time I was editing a source file while it was compiling it to run although I am not certain that is what caused it. Restarting Visual Studio fixed it for me. – Schoolboy