Debugging Tools for Windows

CreateProcessAndAttach2

The CreateProcessAndAttach2 and CreateProcessAndAttach2Wide methods create a process from a specified command line, then attach to that process or another user-mode process.

HRESULT
  IDebugClient5::CreateProcessAndAttach2(
    IN ULONG64  Server,
    IN OPTIONAL PSTR  CommandLine,
    IN PVOID  OptionsBuffer,
    IN ULONG  OptionsBufferSize,
    IN OPTIONAL PCSTR  InitialDirectory,
    IN OPTIONAL PCSTR  Environment,
    IN ULONG  ProcessId,
    IN ULONG  AttachFlags
    );

HRESULT
  IDebugClient5::CreateProcessAndAttach2Wide(
    IN ULONG64  Server,
    IN OPTIONAL PWSTR  CommandLine,
    IN PVOID  OptionsBuffer,
    IN ULONG  OptionsBufferSize,
    IN OPTIONAL PCWSTR  InitialDirectory,
    IN OPTIONAL PCWSTR  Environment,
    IN ULONG  ProcessId,
    IN ULONG  AttachFlags
    );

#ifdef UNICODE
#define CreateProcessAndAttach2T CreateProcessAndAttach2Wide
#else
#define CreateProcessAndAttach2T CreateProcessAndAttach2
#endif

Parameters

Server

Specifies the process server to use to attach to the process. If Server is zero, the engine will connect to the local process without using a process server.

CommandLine

Specifies the command line to execute to create the new process. If CommandLine is NULL, no process is created and these methods will use ProcessId to attach to an existing process.

OptionsBuffer

Specifies the process creation options. OptionsBuffer is a pointer to a DEBUG_CREATE_PROCESS_OPTIONS structure.

OptionsBufferSize

Specifies the size of the buffer OptionsBuffer. This should be set to sizeof(DEBUG_CREATE_PROCESS_OPTIONS).

InitialDirectory

Specifies the starting directory for the process. This parameter is used only if CommandLine is not NULL. If InitialDirectory is NULL, the current directory for the process server is used.

Environment

Specifies an environment block for the new process. An environment block consists of a null-terminated block of null-terminated strings. Each string is of the form:

name=value

Note that the last two characters of the environment block are both NULL: one to terminate the string and one to terminate the block.

If Environment is set to NULL, the new process inherits the environment block of the process server. If the DEBUG_CREATE_PROCESS_THROUGH_RTL flag is set in OptionsBuffer, then Environment must be NULL.

ProcessId

Specifies the process ID of the target process to which the debugger will attach. If ProcessID is zero, the debugger will attach to the process it created from CommandLine.

AttachFlags

Specifies the flags that control how the debugger attaches to the target process. For details on these flags, see DEBUG_ATTACH_XXX.

Return Value

S_OK: The method was successful.
E_INVALIDARG: This is returned if CommandLine is NULL and ProcessId is zero.

This method may also return error values. See Return Values for more details.

Interface Version

CreateProcessAndAttach2 and CreateProcessAndAttach2Wide are available in IDebugClient5 and later versions.

Comments

This method is available only for live user-mode debugging.

If CommandLine is not NULL and ProcessId is not zero, then the engine will create the process in a suspended state. The engine will resume this newly created process after it successfully connects to the process specified in ProcessId.

Note The engine doesn't completely attach to the process until the WaitForEvent method has been called. Only after the process has generated an event — for example, the create-process event — does it become available in the debugger session.

For more information about creating and attaching to live user-mode targets, see Live User-Mode Targets.

Requirements