Security Issues

To debug a program using Visual Studio, the only permissions needed are the same ones a developer needs to run the program. This includes remote debugging for most situations (some situations involving other services, such as the Internet Information Service, may require a higher level of permissions).

While Visual Studio is running, the process debug manager (PDM) tracks debug processes on the local machine. Remotely, a program called msvsmon.exe is started by the developer to handle remote debugging and make the PDM available. (Note that msvsmon.exe is not a service and must be started manually to enable remote debugging on that machine.) When Visual Studio (or msvsmon.exe) is not running, no processes are tracked for debugging.

This means that a developer can debug programs he or she started with no special permissions. The developer can even debug processes started by someone else if that other person is a member of the same security group. And to enable remote debugging, it is necessary only to copy the necessary files to the remote machine and start msvsmon.exe (see Set Up the Remote Tools on the Device for more details).

See Also

Debugging Tasks
Process Debug Manager
Set Up the Remote Tools on the Device