WinDbg Dr. Watson minidump - requires pdb/dll originally built for installed version?

Question

I have a mindmp file from a target\'s application crash. Is it possible for me to rebuild the dll/pdb files for a version of software and have windbg load symbols correctly?

Answer 1

The ChkMatch utility is designed for this exact scenario. As long as you have the original .EXE, you can recompile the sources (with the same compiler and compiler settings) and patch the new .PDB to match the old .EXE.

In this example, OriginalExecutable.exe is the executable that no longer has a .PDB file, and RebuiltPDB.pdb is one that has been produced by rebuilding the original source.

chkmatch -m OriginalExecutable.exe RebuiltPDB.pdb

Now, as long as the two files have their original names, The debugger should accept them as a matching pair.