FIX: Visual Studio 2010 loads only 2048 PDB files when you try to debug an application

View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

You have an application that contains many libraries in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
You build the project, and more than 2048 program database (PDB) files are generated.
You try to debug the application.

In this scenario, Visual Studio 2010 loads only 2048 of the PDB files. Additionally, you receive the following error message in the Output window:

Cannot find or open the PDB file.

Note Performance issues may also occur if an application contains many libraries and Visual Studio 2010 loads all the PDB files when you debug the application.

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Resolution

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must have Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you install the hotfix if the affected files are not being used at the time of installation. We recommend that you close all Visual Studio 2010-related components before you install the hotfix.

File information

The global version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time	Platform
Msdia100.dll	10.0.40219.453	992,920	21-Jun-2013	21:18	x64
Msdia100.dll	10.0.40219.453	801,944	22-Jun-2013	05:31	x86
Mspdb100.dll	10.0.40219.453	242,328	22-Jun-2013	09:24	x86
Mspdb100.dll	10.0.40219.453	259,736	23-Jun-2013	17:04	x64
Mspdb100.dll	10.0.40219.453	343,184	23-Jun-2013	17:04	x86
Mspdb100.dll	10.0.40219.453	462,480	23-Jun-2013	17:04	x64
Mspdbcore.dll	10.0.40219.453	366,744	22-Jun-2013	09:24	x86
Mspdbcore.dll	10.0.40219.453	490,648	23-Jun-2013	17:04	x64
Mspdbsrv.exe	10.0.40219.453	116,888	22-Jun-2013	09:24	x86
Mspdbsrv.exe	10.0.40219.453	158,360	23-Jun-2013	17:04	x64

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Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

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Workaround

To work around this issue, only load PDB files for specified modules. For more information about how to load PDB files for specified modules, go to the following MSDN website:

How to specify symbol locations and loading behavior

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