# Attaching Visual Studio to Ableton for plugin debugging

**URL:** <https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532>\
**Category:** Windows\
**Created:** [May 22, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532 "2019-05-22T17:05:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![andrewluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@andrewluck](https://forum.juce.com/u/andrewluck)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532/1 "2019-05-22T17:05:16Z")

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Hi friends - getting started here… thanks for helping.

I’m trying to get set up debugging for my vst in Ableton Live by attaching the Visual Studio debugger.

One problem is that I’m not sure where to point the Live VST directory in preferences. I imagine this would allow me to load the build.

Next I’m not sure if I’ve got Visual Studio set up correctly.

Here’s a screen shot of my Visual Studio settings:

 ![vs_vst](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/juce/original/2X/6/69eeedf396b587d53109cc314eb452e06afb006a.png)

I’m uncertain if I need command to be set for the \*\_VST3 or the \*\_SharedCode.

Thank you for the guidance.

Andrew

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**Author:** ![xenakios](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/xenakios/32/4047_2.png) [@xenakios](https://forum.juce.com/u/xenakios)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532/2 "2019-05-22T17:09:58Z")

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Set it for \_VST3, the shared code portion by itself can’t be debugged.

Do you have the plugin copy step enabled in Projucer? That should put the .vst3 file in the correct shared folder where Live should be able to find the plugin. (You are using the latest Live beta with VST3 support, right? VST3 hosting is a new upcoming feature in Live.)

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**Author:** ![andrewluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@andrewluck](https://forum.juce.com/u/andrewluck)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532/3 "2019-05-22T17:41:36Z")

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Ok, now running the latest Live beta and I have copy step enabled. Should I be looking for the VST in the plugin window of the Live inspector?

 ![Annotation%202019-05-22%20104059](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/juce/original/2X/c/c99152379ac374fecb76aefab7f53a57e048aae4.png)

Also, I noticed the plugin window is still launching on it’s own when I hit the “Local Windows Debugger” play button.

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**Author:** ![xenakios](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/xenakios/32/4047_2.png) [@xenakios](https://forum.juce.com/u/xenakios)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/attaching-visual-studio-to-ableton-for-plugin-debugging/33532/4 "2019-05-22T17:44:22Z")

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> [@andrewluck](#):
>
> Also, I noticed the plugin window is still launching on it’s own when I hit the “Local Windows Debugger” play button.

Right click on the \_VST3 in the Solution Explorer and set it as the Start Up project. (The default for the start up project is the Stand alone application build, which will build and start the plugin as a stand alone application. IIRC that also skips building the plugin completely if you directly start debugging instead of building the whole solution.)