Microsoft CodeView versions 4.00 and later support remote debugging. This allows you to debug using two machines. CodeView runs on your development machine (the host), and the program you are debugging runs on another machine (the target). You run a remote monitor program on the target machine to control the program you are debugging. The monitor communicates with CodeView through a serial connection.
Remote debugging isolates CodeView from the program being debugged so that errors in the program do not affect the debugger, and the debugger does not affect the target system. If the program crashes the remote system, your development system continues to run.
The remote monitor demands fewer system resources than the full debugger and has fewer dependencies on the hardware and operating system. It does not use the display, the keyboard, extended memory, or expanded memory. After starting and loading the program to be debugged, it does not use the file system. Therefore, the monitor has no effect on these resources that can change your program's behavior.
You can debug large programs or programs that destabilize the operating system. You can also debug programs on older hardware or smaller systems such as laptops that cannot support the full debugger. Some bugs that you cannot reproduce while running under the full debugger appear under the remote monitor.
The process of debugging a program on a remote machine is almost the same as for local debugging. The only difference is in how you start the session. The following sections describe the hardware and files required for remote debugging and how to configure the debugger components on the host and target machines. Also included are the command-line syntax for the remote monitor and the steps you take to start a remote debugging session.