# Visual Studio Remote Debugging

Each version of Visual Studio includes the remote debugging utilities.

It's called, msvsmon.exe.

The following is taken from here: [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/remote-debugging?view=visualstudio#fileshare\_msvsmon](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/remote-debugging?view=visualstudio#fileshare_msvsmon)

The utility is located in this folder:

Find *msvsmon.exe* in the directory matching your version of Visual Studio:

*Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 17.0\\Common7\\IDE\\Remote Debugger\\x64\\msvsmon.exe*

*Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 17.0\\Common7\\IDE\\Remote Debugger\\x86\\msvsmon.exe*

Once found, you can share the Remote Debugger folder across the network, with the target machine to debug.

On the target machine, follow these instructions: [Remote debugging - Visual Studio (Windows) | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/debugger/remote-debugging?view=visualstudio#bkmk_setup)

### Starting the Remote Debugger Harness

Once you have shared the remote debugger folder with the target machine, open the folder in File Explorer, like this:

[![image.png](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/scaled-1680-/5ZKDOteCP3LX2OuK-image.png)](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/5ZKDOteCP3LX2OuK-image.png)

Right-click on the msvsmon.exe, and tell it to start with Administrator rights.

It will take a few seconds to start up.

Once running, a window like the following, will display:

[![image.png](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/scaled-1680-/7IEogcvfBB5hEEtp-image.png)](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/7IEogcvfBB5hEEtp-image.png)

When done debugging, simply close the window, to kill the debugger listener.

## References

[DotNet Startup Remote Debugging Hook](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/link/61)

[Allow Remote Debugging of Docker Containers](https://wiki.galaxydump.com/link/63)