Symbol path for Windows debuggers

Article
12/06/2024

The symbol path specifies locations where Windows debuggers, such as WinDbg, KD, CDB, and NTST, look for symbol files. For more information about symbols and symbol files, see Symbols.

Some compilers, including Microsoft Visual Studio, put symbol files in the same directory as the binary files. The symbol files and the checked binary files contain path and file name information, which lets the debugger find the symbol files automatically. If you debug a user-mode process on the computer where the executable was built, and if the symbol files are in their original location, the debugger can locate the symbol files without you setting the symbol path.

In most other situations, you need to set the symbol path to point to your symbol file locations.

Tip

Use .symfix to set a default path to the public Microsoft public symbol server that works well in many situations.

Symbol path syntax

The debugger's symbol path is a string that consists of multiple directory paths separated by semicolons. For example, C:\Dir1;C:\Dir2\DirA;C:\Dir2\DirB.

Relative paths are supported. However, you should add a drive letter or a network share before each path, unless you always start the debugger from the same directory. Network shares are also supported.

For each directory in the symbol path, the debugger looks in three directories. For example, if the symbol path includes C:\Dir1 and the debugger is looking for symbol information for a DLL, the debugger looks for symbol information in the following directories, listed in order:

C:\Dir1\symbols\dll
C:\Dir1\dll
C:\Dir1

The debugger then repeats this process for each directory in the symbol path. Finally, the debugger looks in the current directory and then in the current directory with ..\dll appended to it. The debugger appends ..\dll, ..\exe, or ..\sys, depending on which binaries it's debugging.

Symbol files have date and time stamps. The debugger always looks for the symbols that match the time stamp on the binary files that it's debugging. You don't have to worry about the debugger using the wrong symbols that it finds first in this sequence. For more information about responses when symbols files aren't available, see Matching symbol names.

One way to set the symbol path is by entering the .sympath command. For other ways to set the symbol path, see Control the symbol path later in this topic.

Cache symbols locally

You should cache your symbols locally. One way to cache symbols locally is to include cache*; or cache*localsymbolcache;* in your symbol path.

If you include the string cache*; in your symbol path, symbols loaded from any element that appears to the right of this string are stored in the default symbol cache directory on the local computer. For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the network share named \\someshare and cache the symbols in the default location on the local computer.

.sympath cache*;\\someshare

If you include the string cache*localsymbolcache; in your symbol path, symbols loaded from any element that appears to the right of this string are stored in the localsymbolcache directory.

For example, the following command tells the debugger to obtain symbols from the network share \\someshare and cache the symbols in the c:\MySymbols directory.

.sympath cache*C:\MySymbols;\\someshare

Using a symbol server: srv*

If you're connected to the Internet or a corporate network, the most efficient way to access symbols is to use a symbol server such as the public Microsoft public symbol server. You can use a symbol server by using one of the following strings in your symbol path.

The srv* string

If you include the string srv* in your symbol path, the debugger uses a symbol server to get symbols from the default symbol store. For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the default symbol store. These symbols aren't cached on the local computer.
```
.sympath srv*
```
The srv*symbolstore string

If you include the string srv*symbolstore in your symbol path, the debugger uses a symbol server to get symbols from the symbolstore. For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the Microsoft symbol server store. These symbols aren't cached on the local computer.
```
.sympath srv*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
```
The srv*localsymbolcache*symbolstore string

If you include the string srv*localcache*symbolstore in your symbol path, the debugger uses a symbol server to get symbols from the symbolstore and caches them in the localcache directory. For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the Microsoft symbol server -https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols and cache the symbols in c:\MyServerSymbols.
```
.sympath srv*C:\MyServerSymbols*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
```

If you have a directory on your computer where you manually place symbols, don't use that directory as the cache for symbols obtained from a symbol server. Instead, use two separate directories. For example, you can manually place symbols in c:\MyRegularSymbols and then designate c:\MyServerSymbols as a cache for symbols obtained from a server. The following example shows how to specify both directories in your symbol path.

.sympath C:\MyRegularSymbols;srv*C:\MyServerSymbols*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

For more information about symbol servers and symbol stores, see Custom symbol stores and symbol servers.

Combine cache* and srv*

If you include the string cache*; in your symbol path, symbols loaded from any element that appears to the right of this string are stored in the default symbol cache directory on the local computer. For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the Microsoft symbol server store and cache them in the default symbol cache directory.

.sympath cache*;srv*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

If you include the string cache*localsymbolcache; in your symbol path, symbols loaded from any element that appears to the right of this string are stored in the localsymbolcache directory.

For example, the following command tells the debugger to get symbols from the Microsoft symbol server store and cache the symbols in the c:\MySymbols directory.

.sympath cache*C:\MySymbols;srv*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Use AgeStore to reduce the cache size

You can use the AgeStore tool to delete cached files that are older than a specified date, or to delete enough old files so that the resulting cache size is less than a specified amount. This cleanup of cache files is useful if your downstream store gets too large.

Lazy symbol loading

The debugger's default behavior is to use lazy symbol loading, also known as deferred symbol loading. This kind of loading means that symbols aren't loaded until they're required.

When the symbol path is changed, for example by using the .sympath command, all loaded modules with export symbols are lazily reloaded.

Symbols of modules with full PDB symbols are lazily reloaded if the new path no longer includes the original path that was used to load the PDB symbols. If the new path still includes the original path to the PDB symbol file, those symbols aren't lazily reloaded.

You can turn off lazy symbol loading in CDB and KD by using the -s command-line option. You can also force symbol loading by using the ld load symbols command or by using the .reload module command together with the /f option.

Azure DevOps Services Artifacts

A symbol server is available with Azure Artifacts in Azure DevOps Services. To learn about working with Azure Artifacts in WinDbg, see Debug with symbols in WinDbg (Azure Artifacts). For general information about Azure-generated symbols, see Symbols overview (Azure Artifacts).

Control the symbol path

To control the symbol path, you can select one of the following methods:

Use the .symfix set symbol store path command to set a default path to the public Microsoft symbol server that works well in many situations. To set a local cache, just type .symfix C:\MyCache.
Use the .sympath command to display, set, change, or append to the path.
Before you start the debugger, use the _NT_SYMBOL_PATH and _NT_ALT_SYMBOL_PATH environment variables to set the path. The symbol path is created by appending _NT_SYMBOL_PATH after _NT_ALT_SYMBOL_PATH. Typically, the path is set through the _NT_SYMBOL_PATH. However, you might want to use _NT_ALT_SYMBOL_PATH to override these settings in special cases, such as if you have private versions of shared symbol files. If you try to add an invalid directory through these environment variables, the debugger ignores this directory.
When you start the debugger, use the -y command-line option to set the path.
In WinDbg only, you can use the File | Symbol File Path command or press CTRL+S to display, set, change, or append to the path.

If you use the -sins command-line option, the debugger ignores the symbol path environment variable.

Troubleshooting

Use !sym noisy or the -n WinDbg Command-Line Option to display additional detail as symbols are loaded. For additional troubleshooting strategies, see Verifying Symbols.

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