How to install Debugging Tools with Visual Studio 2017 installer?

visual-studio qt windbg
Greg82 picture Greg82 · Sep 15, 2017 · Viewed 11.2k times · Source

I need cdb.exe as a debugger for QT Creator. I know that cdb is available as a part of Windows SDK, but is not installed when I install Windows SDK through Visual Studio 2017 installer.

On the other hand, if I install Windows SDK standalone (available here), I can select "Debugging Tools", and finally I get the expected folder Debuggers in Windows kits, that contains cdb.

How can I get cdb during Visual Studio install?

Answer

Zbyněk Winkler picture Zbyněk Winkler · Aug 15, 2018

As you noticed, Visual Studio does not allow you to set any options when installing the SDK. However, after the SDK is installed, all you need to do is finding it in "Apps & features" and selecting "Modify". That will present you the options dialog where you can check "Debugging Tools for Windows¨. For me (SDK 10.0.17134.12) it creates the file

c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64\cdb.exe

that I set as debugger in Qt Creator. I use it to debug 32bit applications built with msvc2008 express.

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