debbuging a plug-in DLL - debugging

I am working on a plug-in for an application. I have old development tools that have problems. My development tools are all from old 32 bit versions. CodeWarrior 6.7.and 8. I am running windows 7 pro 64 bit and having problems with the old tools. The CodeWarrior debugger will only work one time and I have to reboot before it will work again. It also has some problem using it. Break points stop working.
I switched to UeStudio from IDM but can not get a debugger to work. I created a project to use the compilers from Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0. UeStudio is supposed to use an integrated debugger. It downloads WinDbg.exe but it wont start up. The only WinDbg I found on Microsoft is from the Debugging Tools for Windows (x86) and (x64). It does not integrate with UeStudio. It starts up in a separate window. I have played around with it a bit but can not get it to load my DLL. I keep getting and error that it can not load my symbols (mismatching symbol file). I have set it to look were the '.pdb' for my plugin is located an doubled checked that it is correct. It's message names my DLL. I do not have symbols for the application. They do not supply one. I can load my source file and set Break points. But can not examine data.
Anybody get UeStudio debugging to work on windows 7? Or have any idea on debugging DLL on windows 7 cheaply.

I use OllyDebug.
OllyDbg
IDA is also very nice (paid)

Related

How to debug x64 COM dlls on Win7? Native COM dlls couldn't be found in Debug\Windows\Modules

I googled a lot but no answer found. My project is a plugin of a .Net application.
The project was started 2 years ago on WinXp 32bit platform. A 32bit COM component was used for some reasons. Because I have the source codes, I can debug into the COM component freely. Everything is fantastic at that time.
At the beginning of this year, my project is upgrading to x64 because of memory benefit. And the x64 version of the COM component is also ready. Everything works fine except debugging.
Now I can't debug into the COM dlls anymore. There is no any COM dll or interop dll listed in the Debug\Windows\Modules window. Thus, I can't specify the symbol directory for dll.
I know there is no mix mode support for debugging. So When I attach the exe, I select "Native".
I tried VS 2005, VS 2008 and VS 2010, all of them give me the same issue. Then I thought may be it is because x64. So I use the old 32 bit code which was debugged fine on WinXP to try again. But I still can't debug either.
Any idea? Is this because of the win7 platform? Or if I need to add some entries in the exe's config file?
Thanks in advance.
Perhaps, I should ask in this way:
What are the rules for the debugger to decide which module should be in the module list? If you compare the module list between ProcessExplorer and VS, you would find these two are not the same.

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)

I have a client/server app which I have been developing on a single PC. Now it needs two serial ports, so I borrowed a PC from a friend.
When I build my app and try to run or debug it (whether in the Delphi IDE or from Windows File manager), it errors "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)".
Googling doesn't bring up much, but seems to indicate that this is nothing Delphi specific and happens with other apps. It seems to be caused by calling into a 32 bit DLL from a 64 bit app or vice versa.
both PCs are Windows 7, 64 bit
both have Delphi Xe2 starter edition which can only handle 32 bits
The app runs fine on my PC, but not on my friend's
Other Delphi apps run just fine on both PCs
Can anyone give me a hint as to how to track this down?
Normally we get the 0xC000007B error-code (which means STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_FORMAT), if:
If a 32-bit app tried to load a 64-bit DLL.
Or if a 64-bit app tried to load a 32-bit DLL.
Or if a 64-bit app tried to run on a 32-bit Windows.
To really know, I would suggest to test whether there is a problem between your application and its dependencies using dependency walker
Note that all you need to do is open your App using said tool, and issues appear as red log-entries at buttom of screen.
(At least, at time of writting, namely 2022)
Also, make sure you run the correct version of Dependency Walker, for example, the x86 version will display incorrect results when openning x64 binaries.
A load time dependency could not be resolved. The easiest way to debug this is to use Dependency Walker. Use the Profile option to get diagnostics output of the load process. This will identify the point of failure and should guide you to a solution.
The most common cause of this error is trying to load a 64 bit DLL into a 32 bit process, or vice versa.
I tried all the things specified here and found yet another answer. I had to compile my application with 32-bit DLLs. I had built the libraries both in 32-bit and 64-bit but had my PATH set to 64-bit libraries. After I recompiled my application (with a number of changes in my code as well) I got this dreaded error and struggled for two days. Finally, after trying a number of other things, I changed my PATH to have the 32-bit DLLs before the 64-bit DLLs (they have the same names). And it worked. I am just adding it here for completeness.
It is a missing dll.
Possibly, your dll that works with com ports have an unresolved dll dependence.
You can use dependency walker and windows debugger. Check all of the mfc library, for example. Also, you can use nrCommlib - it is great components to work with com ports.
It has been mentioned in earlier answers that using dependency walker is the way to go, in my case (my application keeps failing with the error code), dependency walker showed a few dll that are NOT relevant!
Finally figured out that I can run profiling by going to "profile" menu and it will run the application and stop at the exact dll that's cause the problem! I found out a 32bit dll was picked because of path and fixed it.
I experienced the same problem developing a client-server app using Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.
If you used Visual Studio to develop the app, you must make sure the new (i.e. the computer that the software was not developed on) has the appropriate Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package. By appropriate, you need the right year and bit version (i.e. x86 for 32 bit and x64 for 64 bit) of the Visual C++ Redistributable Package.
The Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install run-time components that are required to run C++ applications built using Visual Studio.
Here is a link to the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 .
You can check what versions are installed by going to Control Panel -> Programs -> Programs and Features.
Here's how I got this error and fixed it:
1) I developed a 32 bit application using Visual Studio 2012 on my computer.
Let's call my computer ComputerA.
2) I installed the .exe and the related files on a different computer we'll call ComputerB.
3) On ComputerB, I ran the .exe and got the error message.
4) On ComputerB, I looked at the Programs and Features and didn't see Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64).
5) On ComputerB, I googled for Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable and selected and installed the x64 version.
6) On ComputerB, I ran the .exe on ComputerB and did not receive the error message.
I recently had an issue where I was developing an application (that used a serial port) and it worked on all the machines I tested it on but a few people were getting this error.
It turns out all the machines that the error happened on were running Win7 x64 and had NEVER ONCE been updated.
Running a Windows update fixed all of the machines in my particular case.
Actually this error indicates to an invalid image format. However, why this is happening and what the error code usually means? Actually this could be appear when you are trying to run a program that is made for or intended to work with a 64 bit Windows operating system, but your computer is running on 32 bit Operating system.
Possible Reasons:
Microsoft Visual C++
Need to restart
DirectX
.NET Framework
Need to Re-Install
Need to Run the application as an administrator
Source: http://www.solveinweb.com/solved-the-application-was-unable-to-start-correctly-0xc000007b-click-ok-to-close-the-application/
This may be a case where debugging the debugger might be useful. Essentially if you follow the instructions here you can run two ide's and one will debug into the other. If you un your application in one, you can sometimes catch errors that you otherwise miss. Its worth a try.
I have seen the error trying to run VC++ debug executable on a machine which did not have Visual C++ installed. Building a release version and using that fixed it.
In my case the error occurred when I renamed a DLL after building it (using Visual Studio 2015), so that it fits the name expected by an executable, which depended on the DLL. After the renaming the list of exported symbols displayed by Dependency Walker was empty, and the said error message "The application was unable to start correctly" was displayed.
So it could be fixed by changing the output file name in the Visual Studio linker options.
You can have this if you are trying to manifest your application that it has a dependancy on the Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls assembly. You do this when you want to load Version 6 of the common controls library - so that visual styles are applied to common controls.
You probably followed Microsoft's original documentation way back from Windows XP days, and added the following to your application's manifest:
<!-- Dependancy on Common Controls version 6 -->
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
Windows XP is no longer the OS, and you're no longer a 32-bit application. In the intervening 17 years Microsoft updated their documentation; now it's time for you to update your manifest:
<!-- Dependancy on Common Controls version 6 -->
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="*"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
Raymond Chen has a lovely history of the Common Controls:
The history of the Windows XP common controls (archive)
The main problem, of course, is that a DLL file is missing, or, even more likely, corrupt. If this is the case, then I have some pretty good ideas (especially if you've downloaded and installed a DLL manually!)...
TLDR: Delete every manually copy/pasted DLL you've done, uninstall old redistributable installs, and reinstall new redistributables for both 32-bit and 64-bit installs.
What To Do
This solution of copying/pasting missing DLL's into system32, etc., used to work since I can remember in the 1990's, but it doesn't seem to work anymore (2020). So if you run into this problem recently, I suggest:
Within windows\system32 and windows\SysWOW64, delete all files that match ms*.dll, that the operating system will allow you delete as admin.
Uninstall all Visual C++ Redistributables that you have with Windows. This prevents the "You already have this!" dialogue showing up upon reinstall, as detailed in the next step when we re-install.
Reinstall the 2015-2019 Visual C++ Redistributable from a regularly available download site. If this does not work, download and install the others, but personally, the 2015-2019 covered everything for me. Regardless of your machine, install both x32 and x64 packages! (All Download Links: Collected VC++ Download Links; MSVCR120.dll Fix; MFC140U.dll Fix.)
How You Know It's Working
There's a lot of variation in coders experiencing this, so, the idea that there's one single, possible solution is often discarded, but let's be positive!
If deleting the matching ms*.dll files worked, then you will no longer get an error about error code 0xc000007b. Instead, you'll get a message about a missing .dll. This tells you that you're hitting the right code path!
If installing the redistributable works, then certain popular, DLL files should appear in the above-mentioned system32 and SysWO64 folders. For instance: MSVCR120.dll, MSVCR140.dll, MSVCR100.dll, MSVCP100.dll, MSVCP120.dll, MSVCP140.dll, and friends.
Last, Possible Best Chances
Sometimes things don't work according to plan (as we all in the Windows world know). You can also try the following!
Open the "Turn Windows Features on or off" tab in Windows (supported in Windows 8-10). Uncheck the .NET Framework installations. You'll see a small installation go by.
Restart the system. Go to the above feature again, recheck .NET Framework, and click "okay". If this works, you'll see a "installing and updating .NET framework" message that takes maybe a minute or so to go by. Once this is done, I recommend a reboot again.
Good luck!
Just solved this problem for my personal project (thanks to Dries for that). For me it was because the project path was too long. After saving the .sln to a shorter path (C:/MyProjects) and compiling from there it ran without the error.
Also download and unzip "Dependencies" into same folder where you put the wget.exe from
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm
You will then have some lib*.dll files as well as wget.exe in the same folder and it should work fine.
(I also answered here https://superuser.com/a/873531/146668 which I originally found.)
I just ran into this issue. I searched for "C++" under my "Apps & Features" in Windows 10 control panel and noticed that some kind of update had just run a few days prior and installed VC++ Redistributable 2012-2017. The app that was running into the error message only required VC++ 2010. I uninstalled all of them and then reinstalled just 2010 x86/x64, and the error went away and the application functioned as expected.
That can happen if for some reason a x86 resource is loaded from a x64 machine. To avoid that explicitly, add this preprocessor directive to stdafx.h (of course, in my example the problematic resource is Windows Common Controls DLL.
#if defined(_WIN64)
#pragma comment(linker, "\"/manifestdependency:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='amd64' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df'\"")
#endif
It is possible that you have multiple versions of the dll(s) on your system. You can search your system to find out. The issue may be solved by simply changing the order of the directories in your path. This was my issue. (Cannot run Qt Creator GUI outside of Qt. "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)" error)
I ran into this issue when fetching code from my repository and compiling on a new machine. Copying over the entire repository and then compiling resulted in an executable which worked. Turns out a 32bit DLL accidentally wasn't checked in. As the people above state, use "Dependency Walker" to figure out where it goes wrong.
To make it more clear what to look for see the below screenshot, with in the background the exe trying to load the wrong DLL (notice the '64') resulting in "the application was unable to start correctly 0xc00007b" and in the foreground the exe which was simply copied over (which included the correct DLL).
I came here when I was searching for: "golang Windows (0xc00007b)"
I have an app written in Golang, which uses iconv. It worked on my machine, but not in someone else's machine.
The first error was the missing DLL: libiconv-2.dll, so I guess they downloaded it on the internet but it was the 32 bit and not 64 bit version, so the 0xc00007b error appeared.
I searched the DLL on my system but I did not have success until I searched on MinGW 64 path which in my case is: C:\msys64\mingw64\bin
The solution was to distribute the DLL with the .exe, which was in the MinGW folder.

VB6 Application Silently Crashes on Startup/Form Loading

I have a VB6 app that loads initially (for a small prompt to enter a license key, only on the first time). It works fine on my machine (windows 7).
I had complaints of it crashing on someone else's machine (both xp and 7), so I made a Windows XP virtual machine. I installed it on the virtual machine, it crashed. I wanted to see where it crashed so I installed Visual Studio on the virtual machine so that I would get a debug prompt. When I ran the program again, it worked.
I am more familiar with C++ and had these kinds of problems, so I figured it was some sort of runtime issue.
I found this VB6 SP6 Redistributable Runtime:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=24417
I installed that, and it still wouldn't run.
Any ideas where to go from here?
Edit:
I have tried depends.exe, it only shows MSJava, which I've heard I can ignore. Does depends.exe also show things like .ocx (Active X controllers?) that are required?
Also, from the cmd prompt, %errorlevel% doesn't seem to get populated. Is that a VB6 things, or does that indicate that this is truely a crash and not a user exit?
Open the Visual Basic project and check both "References" and "Components" under the "Project" menu.
Since it is crashing with the VB runtime installed it is likely a component that you have referenced in the project that either does not exist (or is not registered) on the client under test.
This should be a simple fix.
I had the same problem on my windows 7 computer.
I have uninstalled everything, changed my windows theme to Windows Classic.
I changed following properties of VB setup file.
Right click on setup.exe and go to properties and in compatibility tab change the compatibility mode to windows XP SP2. And in settings uncheck the following check boxes.
Disable Visual themes
Disable Desktop composition
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
Run this program as an administrator
And have completed installation.
Followed by installing VB 6 service pack 6 from here.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=24417
Hope it helps.
It may require something else other than just the runtime, have you tried viewing it with dependency walker http://www.dependencywalker.com/ on the machine that it crashes on?
It should quickly point out any missing references.
Maybe try again, create a new VM, but install the remote debugger instead of the full VS.
You should create an installer for your application. There may be more dependencies than just the VB6 runtime. A good installation tool will detect at least some of necessary dependencies for you. Have a look at this question or this question

Has anyone had success with Visual Studio 6 on Windows 7?

VS6 popped off a series of errors before bombing out completely during install on Windows 7. I specifically need to get VB6 functioning on Windows 7. Anyone having any luck?
Folks on the VB6 newsgroup report they have managed to get it working on Windows 7.
There's this step-by-step guide on how to install the IDE on Windows 7 (including 64 bit).
If that doesn't work (scrapes barrel) try this old tip about persuading the install not to install the Java VM? Link is now broken so here is the tip:
Before trying to install VB6. Create a new file, name it msjava.dll and place it in your windows directory. The file can be zero length. You can then happily install without the prompt to install an old version of Microsoft's flavour of Java. Once you have installed VB6, delete the msjava.dll otherwise windows update will prompt you to update it.
Or (scrapes hole in barrel) these tips from an article about getting the IDE working on Vista?
Footnote: if developing with ADO, be aware of this.
The only way I've found that works is Windows XP mode (i.e. a virtual machine). Works fine there, but otherwise, not at all.
I found ALL the answers in a thread at vbmonster.com. As mentioned above, you CAN install Visual Studio 6 with Service Pack 6 under Windows 7 by following Derek's detailed instructions at fortypoundhead.com.
I had a problem because I needed to install Service Pack 5. I use a third party program that does not work with Service Pack 6. A really smart programmer (GuideX) came up with a great hack to get around the MDAC 2.5 error.
Win 7 64 bit service pack 5 & 6. Turn compatability off and it seems to work.
Recently I had to debug an ancient application written in Visual C++ 6.0 on Windows 8.1. Tried different solutions all of them failed, only this one worked.
This guys made a special installer that allows installing VC++6, VB6, and SP6 on Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 without any errors whatsoever.
Hope it would be helpful to someone.
I installed VB6 on Windows 7 Pro without having to use compatibility settings or run as administrator.
Doesn't really help you, but does show that it can work.
Several people in my office have installed Visual Studio 6 (without VC++) on Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit with no problems. The one thing we have in common: we've all turned UAC down to it's lowest setting. Nothing else special required.
I am using vb6 on windows 7 32 bit system for a long time.
you will need to install your vb6 with compatibility of xp2.
Create a 0-byte file in the C:\Windows directory called msjava.dll.
Don't just install via the Autorun executable; instead browse the Visual Studio 6 CD (or folder), right-click Setup.exe and select Run As Administrator.
On any Program Compatibility Assistant warnings, click Run Program.
Step through the setup screens until you're able to choose Custom Setup, then click next.
On the setup options, install the following items and nothing else:
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
ActiveX
Data Access
Graphics
Click continue and the process will start, and (hopefully) eventually complete.
Skip the installations of the MSDN CD, BackOffice, VSS and SNA Server, and clear the checkbox for "Register Now". Setup should be complete.
Download the VB6 Service Pack 6 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/confirmation.aspx?FamilyID=A8494EDB-2E89-4676-A16A-5C5477CB9713&displaylang=en and install.
Change the compatibility settings for Visual Basic (to get it to run a little more smoothly under Windows 7) by browsing to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98, right-clicking the VB6.exe file, and selecting properties.
On the Compatibility tab, check the following:
Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
Disable Visual Themes
Disable Desktop Composition
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings
When you start up the IDE, you may get a notification saying that the color scheme has been changed to Windows 7 Basic, but it will be changed back to Aero once you exit. Everything should be working fine at this point!
Note: when you first run your new install vb6 run it with admin rights and with xp2 compatibility so that your exe can run on any system.
The word "supported" is used loosely in this thread, potentially leading the unwary reader to the conclusion that Microsoft supports the VB6 IDE (that is, the integrated development environment) on operating systems beyond Windows XP. This fact clearly is stated in the table that appears on the page at this link:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/nikosan/2012/04/20/support-statement-for-visual-basic-6-0-on-windows-8-updated/
Note that executables developed using VB6 are in fact compatible with Windows OS's from Windows XP through Windows 10--32/64-bit versions:
https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/06/22/getting-ready-for-windows-10-sdks-compatibility-bridges/
Anyone using non-standard methods to coax the IDE into working on OS's that Microsoft does not support is exposing themselves/their organizations/their employers to risk and is not suitable for risk-averse organizations.
Having said that, I think the purest solution is to install Windows XP onto a virtual machine and run that VM in a modern host OS, such as Windows 10. That works just fine, and you can install directly from the VB6 Setup disc without making any pre-install/post-install customizations.
I had a Vista x64 box with a working copy of the VB6 IDE (which was supported). I upgraded the OS to Windows 7 x64 and the VB6 IDE still works fine. You could try that. I know, a huge PITA and kludgy but still, it worked for me.
I run Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, installed Windows Virtual PC - XP Mode, and that solved my problem isince I can run MSDEV 6.0 in the XP Window.
Not esay to install XP Mode though, the MS site is buggy.
The VB6 programming language is supported on the Windows 10 Technical Preview.
Visual Vasic 6 applications run and the VB6 IDE installs and works too.
I have the VB6 IDE running OK on Win-XP-16, Win-7-32, Win-7-64, Win-8.1-32, Win-8.1-64, win-10-32 and win-10-64 by using the instructions above which basically say, turn off UAC, run the installer AS ADMIN, and then set the VB6.exe file to run in XP-SP3 Compatibility mode.
I have had some issues with it and have had to do a bit more googling to solve these but I don't remember any more what those issues or solutions were.
I've even got the VB3 IDE running on the 32-bit versions of XP, Win-7, Win 8.1 and Win-10 - without even installing them - just copied the C:\VB folder from another computer and copied the *.LIC license files and *.VBX etc files as well.
I have successfully installed vb6 on win 7 32 bit by installing xp first then installing new win 7, (not upgrade), and do not format. then it will install vb6 without a problem
It's depending on your build version of Windows 7.
If your Win7's version is lower or is not updated, it has MANY PROBLEMS with compatibility.
But mine is newer Win7 version and has NO COMPATIBILITY TROUBLE.
I am currently using VB6 , VS6 and they still work fine!
If Properties->Compatibility->Windows XP doesn't help, fix it with UPDATING your Win7.

Missing Visual Studio features when running in 64-bit mode

Can someone tell me why I don't have all of the dev studio windows available to me when I develop on a 64-bit platform? I upgraded my dev desktop box to server 2003 x64 to match our deployment platform. Since then (I'm using VS2005) I've noticed that several windows aren't available. I can't view Processes (which is the most annoying) so I don't know which processes I'm attached to. I can attach to a process fine, but it won't show me what is already running under the debugger. There are others, but that's the one that sticks out in my mind at the moment.
My question is where are these limitations of developing under 64 bit documented (assuming they are)? (Of course, I also get the "Edit/Continue" warning dialog all the time telling me that doesn't work in 64-bit)
Also, is VS2008 any better under 64 bit?
Follow-up: Apparently my question is a little bit vague. I'm developing a 64-bit app on a 64-bit development environment. "Recompile it in x86" doesn't solve my problems.
Follow-up #2: I'm giving it one more shot. I WANT TO DEBUG A 64 BIT PROGRAM ON A 64 BIT ENVIRONMENT AND I DON'T HAVE ALL OF THE VISUAL STUDIO FEATURES SHOWING UP. HOW DO I GET THEM?
Follow-up #3: I just installed XP 64 (previously I was using Server 2003 64-bit) and those features all showed up again (Process window, etc). Apparently the server version of windows doesn't provide all of the dev features.
Can anyone tell me why?
"Edit/Continue" can work if you change the build setting to X86 :)
Here was the suggestion from StackOverflow about it.
I had some problem with NUNIT when debugging code. The solution was to use the special program in the \bin\ folder Nunit-x86.exe for old code built in x86 and use the Nunit.exe for x64 built.

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