hi every one,

i have recently moved from Ms VS debugger to Windbg (which i got from win SDK ver 7) ,and i'm facing the well known beginners problem which is setting the path for the debug symbol file:

here is a symbol code that have a run-time protected access memory error :

#include <stdio.h>

void main()
{
    //point to location 0
    int *ptr1;

    printf("Hello World\n");

    //read from Location 0 (Protected Memory)
    printf("%d",*ptr1);
}

i'm using MS Compiler "CL ver 15.00.30729"
here's how i compile
cl a1.c /Zi /DEBUG

i manged to debug the code using an installed MS VisualStudio debugger.

but when i try to debug it using windbg the debugger wont automatically recognize the debugging symbol files like MS VS one ,and when manualy set the path using
File > Symbol File Path ..
and then write the path and hit reload the same issue happens "ERROR: Symbol file couldn't be found "

common people just any one try to help>>>

by the way when we specify the symbol path why we have to add the "srv*" before the debug file path ?

Mmostafaxx,

sooorry for the late reply. If it is not completely to late: Check out slides 14 and 24 at WinDbg. From A to Z! and try to set up _NT_SYMBOL_PATH so that it really points to the correct folder. Alternatively you could try to debug our CrashMe application first - the symbols there should be loaded just fine. Then you can move back to your application and pinpoint the problem there.

Also check:
- that there is indeed a PDB file that is generated alongside your exe (both should have same timestamps)
- your compiler settings - debug information: /Zi (Program Database) should be set, not /ZI (Program Database for Edit & Continue)
- use the !sym noisy WinDbg command (debugger displays info about its search for symbols), followed by ld *
- check out other symbol-related commands at Common WinDbg Commands (Thematically Grouped)

I hope this helps,
Robert