FIX: Load Delays When Debugging ODBC Applications in Visual C++

When you debug an application that uses ODBC in the Visual C++ debugger, the debugger appears to hang for a period of time when loading ODBCINT.dll.

The release version of ODBCINT.dll that ships with MDAC 2.0 contains the following debug string:

When you load ODBCINT.dll in the debugger, the debugger attempts to locate this file. If you have an L: drive mapped on the computer, a network delay occurs while the file system looks for this file.

Note that this delay does not occur with any ODBC application running in release mode.

You can avoid the delay when using MDAC 2.0 by either unmapping the L: drive, or by opening the ODBCINT.dll in a hex editor and changing the one instance of L: to some other drive letter that you know is not mapped on your system.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Microsoft Data Access Components 2.1.

Share your A: floppy drive as A and then map your L: drive to \\machinename\A. Run any ODBC application in the Visual C++ debugger. Notice that the A: drive spins indicating that the L: drive was accessed when ODBCINT.dll is loaded.