Attach to child process when debugging unit tests
Hi
We need to be able to attach to child processes when debugging unit tests. As far as I can tell this should be possible, but the breakpoints aren't being loaded by Rider.
Further info:
We're using nunit as the test runner, and are launching tests via the Tests window in rider (right click a test, Debug unit test).
The tests start a child process that I'm trying to debug.
This works with VS2022 and this plugin https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vsdbgplat.MicrosoftChildProcessDebuggingPowerTool2022
Attach to child .NET processes is ticked in the launch configuration for the .NET project that contains the unit tests (I'm not sure whether or not this has any effect when running tests though)
The message in Rider when hovering over the breakpoint in the child process is … is not found among the loaded symbol documents
Does anyone know how I can get this working?
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Hello,
Thank you for contacting JetBrains Support. I'm glad to work with you on this ticket.
Attach to child .NET processes is a new feature introduced in 2025.1. Currently only specific run configurations, like .NET Project, .NET Executable, are supported. It's not supported yet to debug child processes when debugging test using Tests window.
It's recommended to raise a feature request in our issue tracker. On the tracker, others can see your request and add their vote if they find such a tool would be useful. It helps our team to better understand which features/tools our users are eager for.
A workaround is to add a .NET Executable run configuration to execute “dotnet test” command, like below:
Let me know if you have any concerns.
Thanks for the quick response and work around. I raised a feature request https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/RIDER-129067/Support-attaching-to-child-process-when-debugging-unit-tests-in-Rider