The debugger is not properly installed SSIS

Question

I have created Data Integration service project using Visual Studio 2017 on Windows 10.

I have installed SQL Server 2017 and Visual Studio Community Edition.

I created Simple SSIS Package which performs data load from csv file to SQL server table.

When I do ctrl+F5 (Execute without debugging) I am getting bellow error

===================================

Unable to start debugging. The debugger is not properly installed. Run setup to install or repair the debugger. (Microsoft Visual Studio)

------------------------------ Program Location:

at Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Project.DataTransformationsPackageDebugger.LaunchVsDebugger(IVsDebugger iVsDebugger, DataTransformationsProjectConfigurationOptions options)
at Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Project.DataTransformationsPackageDebugger.ValidateAndRunDebugger(Int32 flags, IOutputWindow outputWindow, DataTransformationsProjectConfigurationOptions options) at Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Project.DtsPackagesFolderProjectFeature.ExecuteTaskOrPackage(ProjectItem prjItem, String taskPath)

===================================

Unable to start program 'DTS'.

The debugger is not properly installed. Cannot debug the requested type of code. Run setup to install or repair the debugger. (Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger)

------------------------------ Program Location:

at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo) at Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Project.DataTransformationsPackageDebugger.LaunchVsDebugger(IVsDebugger iVsDebugger, DataTransformationsProjectConfigurationOptions options)

But when I do just F5, it works fine i.e data successfully pushed into SQL server.

There is issue with Visual Studio debugger, I tried so many times repair and reinstall. Nothing helped.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Answer 1

I has able to solve the issue with trial and error methods using different approaches available over the internet. I did almost spent one week of time in resolving and I am very happy in the end as the time spent was fruitful.

I did able to solve the issue with SQL Server 2016 and Visual Studio 2015 and respective SSDT 2015. I made sure I install every time as administrator (right-click on EXE and choose "Run as Administrator").

I followed these steps:

1. I uninstalled all SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server 2017, Visual Studio 2017 with SSDT.

2. Deleted the folders

    C:\Users\tat84336\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0
    C:\Users\tat84336\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0
   

3. Installed SQL Server 2016 (as administrator)

4. Installed SQL Server Management Studio - latest version (as administrator)

5. Installed Visual Studio 2015 (for me VS 2015 caused some missing DLL and I did repair - it started working fine)

6. Finally I installed Visual Studio Data Tools for 2015.

Please find the exes for installing VS2015, SSDT-2015 and SQL Server 2016 from here and you can also download them from official sites through search.

And download SSMS from here

Answer 2

Yes, this is standard SSIS package behavior, do not worry.
There are the following debug capabilities for SSIS package:

• Set up a breakpoint on some of SSIS tasks. This allows to inspect variable contents. MS Docs on this.
• Set up a data viewer in Data Flow task. This allows to check contents of Data Flow at specific path. MS Docs.

Anyway, after you set up breakpoints or data viewers, run package in VS and wait until it hit the breakpoint or data viewer.

Answer 3

That error message is misleading.

When you run an SSIS package in SSDT with debugging (F5) if you look at Task Manager, you'll see ... dtsdebugger or something spin up and that's how we can visualize rows moving through Data Flows, inspect watches, check breakpoints, etc.

When you run an SSIS package without debugging, then you're running it at the command line which uses DTEXEC.exe. A sample command line would look something like

dtexec.exe /proj bin\Development\MyProject.ispac /pack MyPackage.dtsx /rep V

However, Microsoft would like to get paid for their work so running an SSIS outside of the debugger is disabled. This prevents people from developing solutions and having them run in an automated fashion.

DTEXEC checks whether the SQL Server Integration Services Service has been installed. The only way to get that service installed is to have the SQL Server media which is only available through authorized licensed channels.

• SSDT - Free to download and develop.
• SQL Server - Open up your wallet