visual studio 2005 - vshost32.exe crash when calling unmanaged DLL

Question

I'm using a VS 2005 app to interface against an unmanaged (Fortran) DLL. When I run the compiled executable straight from the command line, everything is fine - the DLL can be accessed, and I can work with the functions in the DLL.

Unfortunately, when I launch the app from VS 2005, I get a popup stating "vshost32.exe has stopped working" and no useful debugging information.

Has anyone experienced this behavior, or know why this might be occuring? I can't figure out why it would run fine when launched stand-alone, but not via vshost32.

(One last note: I am using .local files to force registered dlls to be used from cwd, but this particular dll is not registered. I'm just noting it here in case it helps.)

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Thanks very much,

Mike

Answer 1

I had problem with crashes of vshost32.exe the problem vanished when I checked the checkbox:

Properties -> Debug -> Enable unmanaged code debugging

Does it work for you?

EDIT: In more recent versions the option is called: Enable native code debugging (thanks Qwerty01)

EDIT: It also seems to help in VS2008 (@Deacon Frost), VS2010 (@Alxandr).