NmpCore error

[callixte]

I am trying to use NmpCore to investigate a leak for which I only have a dump. It is a 64bits dump and I am on 64bits machine.
unfortunately, when I try to import the dump, I get the following message:

The operation failed with the following error:
The debug engine folder is not correctly initialized.

I have the debugging tools installed in their 64bits flavour.
What am I missing?

[Andreas Suurkuusk]

NmpCore is not designed to import memory dumps (it was actually designed to avoid the need of memory dumps). If you have a memory dump to import, I suggest that you use the full .NET Memory Profiler for the import.

Anyway, the error message indicates that NmpCore has failed to locate the Debugging Tools installation folder.
How are you using NmpCore to import the memory dump?

[callixte]

I use NmpCore directly from the command line from its directory.
When I import my dump into .Net Memory Profiler, it takes ages (4go) and then I can see nothing as if it was empty. Which is nit the case, I begun investigating using WinDbg and SOS and I can see objects and their gcroots there.

[Andreas Suurkuusk]

Importing memory dumps can unfortunately take very long time. There's also risk that it's not possible to retrieve any information from the dump. However, if you are able to retrieve information using WinDbg and SOS, then you should also be able to import the memory dump into .NET Memory Profiler. It would be good if we could investigate the dump file ourselves, to see if there's a problem with the import. If it is possible for you to send us the file, please contact us at support@scitech.se and I will send you information on how to upload the file to us.

Are you actually trying to import the memory dump file using NmpCore? As mentioned previously, NmpCore is not designed to import memory dumps. What command line arguments are you using to import the memory dump?

[callixte]

On the home page of MemProfiler (v4.0.119.0) it says:

If you are running or can run the process under .NET Framework 4.0, consider using the NmpCore tool instead of importing a memory dump.

I thought it meant "use NmpCore to import your dump".
Anyway, I used the "-i" option for NmpCore as it is stated in the help page.

[Andreas Suurkuusk]

Thanks for the update. The message on the start page suggests that you use NmpCore to attach to a process and collect snapshots. Attaching using the profiling API is faster and provides more detailed information and that's it is recommended.

The possibility to import memory dumps using NmpCore has not been fully implemented, as we decided that it's not a very important feature. However, the /i argument is still accepted, and as you pointed out, it is listed in the command list printed by NmpCore itself. We have removed the references to the /i argument from the documentation, but apparently we have forgotten to remove it from the NmpCore help. We will correct this in the next release.