Breakpoints are Not Working in Visual Studio – .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF)

Recently I had the issue while debugging a smart device application. All my breakpoints stop functioning. But if I ran the application in the device emulator the breakpoints are working fine.

So it was occurring only when I debug in an actual device (In my case Pocket PC).

 

After some trying I found that the problem is in the .NET CF which was installed in the Pocket PC.

To fix the thing,

1. Stop all the applications running in the Pocket PC (Do a soft restart or use the Runnning Programs tab in the System -> Memory).

2. Un install the .NET CF from the Pocket PC and soft reset the Pocket PC again.

3. Install the .NET CF in to the Pocket PC. (Also note that you can make the Visual Studio install the .NET CF by starting an application from Visual Studio.)

4. Connect the Pocket PC to the computer using Active Sync and try debugging. In most cases now the breakpoints should work.

 

If this did not fix the issue you will have to cold reset the Pocket PC and also I would instruct you to reinstall the SDKs (Windows Mobile 5/6 Pocket PC SDKs) if you have any installed.