So you’re trying to debug C# code on Linux, maybe Ubuntu. You’ve installed .NET 6 or 7, you’ve built your solution in Visual Studio on your Windows PC, published it then copied the files over to the Linux box. But when you run it, you get an error “Unable to find debugger script at”. It’s time to debug your Linux app from your Windows Visual Studio.

Now there is a Microsoft support issue for this and it’s less than helpful. Read below to see how I fixed it.

Only, as soon as it tries to attach over SSH (with username, password, IP etc), you get this popup on the left. “Computer says no”.

Looking in the VS Output folder you see the text below or something similar. For whatever reason, it failed to create a hidden folder in your home folder. To fix this, all you have to do is create that folder. It’s .vs-debugger under your home folder.

If you’re not familiar with .folders on Linux, note that the . at the front of the name means it’s a hidden folder. A simple ls command will not reveal it. If you use the File Manager, you can click the settings in the top right and tick the Show Hidden Files. Then you can do a cd ~ followed by a mkdir .vs-debugger. And View in files to confirm that it’s there.

Now the only pain with debugging is that the application must be running for Visual Studio to attach to it. I was debugging a utility that is run, does its business and closes. So to debug it, I added this as the first line in main() in program.cs

Console.ReadKey();

So run it, let it sit waiting for a key then attach visual studio’s debugger to your app over SSH, add your breakpoints and hit a key. Simples!