VSHOST Files Explanation
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009During a creation and compilation of a Visual Studio project, more files are created in the Debug folder apart from the main output exe file.
They are results of the hosting process feature that was introduced for the first time with VS2005.
Hosting process file, with extension .vshosts.exe, serves main three purposes:
- Improving debugging performance
- Enabling partial trust debugging
- Enabling design time expression evaluation
There are more files created with the vshost file for the Visual Studio project:
- .pdb or the Programm DataBase that contains debug symbols
- .vshost.exe.manifest that contains mostly dependencies on libraries
Also, notice that these files shouldn’t be deployed with the application you finished or run directly.
It’s possible to disable generation vshost files under project settings -> Debug options -> Enable the Visual Studio hosting process checkbox.
You can find more information about the advanced debugging features in a MSDN article.
