DataSetVisualizer and Remote Debugging in Visual Studio

Question

We use Lab Manager for testing on multiple platforms and remote debugging, creating a Windows account with the same name and password both in the local developer block and in the virtual machine in Lab Manager (forces the VS debugger to assume that the same account used in both blocks so that he can see the debug server in the dev block). Then we run VS under the debug account and can debug remotely.

All this works fine, except that trying to start the DataSetVisualizer raises the following exception:

Microsoft.VisualStudio.DebuggerVisualizers.DebugViewerShim.RemoteObjectSourceException: Failed to load file or assembly: /// D: \ apps \ Microsoft Visual Studio 8 \ Common7 \ Packages \ Debugger \ Visualizers \ Microsoft.VisualStudio.Debugger.DataSetVisualizer.dll 'or one from his dependencies.

The DLL is located in the specified folder, and the folder allows full control by administrators (of which the debugging account is a member). There are no other dlls in this folder.

I also tried copying the visualizer dll to Document and Settings\<debug_account>\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Visualizers (the recommended path for custom visualizers). The exception is the same, but refers to the MyDocs path instead of the VS installation path.

Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas?

Answer 1

My colleague found the answer: copy the visualizer dll to a location on the remote machine that reflects the directory structure in your dev block.