a matching symbol file was not found in this folder

Question

I want to use debug symbols, but I am receiving the following error:

a matching symbol file was not found in this folder

What

Answer 1

I ran into this problem and the answer was simple.

Visual studio has two project level settings that can create .pdb files.

1. Linker: Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Debugging -> Generate Program Database File = "xxxx.pdb"
2. Compiler: Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Output Files -> Program Database File Name = "yyyy.pdb"

You want #1 for debugging. Forget about #2. Give file #2 a different name than file #1 to solve this error.

I don't know why microsoft specifies #2 as a .pdb file. That is just confusing.