WinDbg is a multipurpose debugger for the Windows operating system, distributed by Microsoft. Debugging is the process of finding and resolving errors in a system; in computing, it also includes exploring the internal operation of the software as help to develop. If when you run Debugging Tools (WinDbg) for Windows 10 and you encounter the error message; No .natvis files found, then this post is intended to help you. In this post, we will identify the possible cause of this error, as well as provide the appropriate solution that you can try to help you remediate this issue.

WinDbg can be used to debug user-mode applications, device drivers, and the operating system itself in kernel mode. Like the better-known Visual Studio Debugger, it has a graphical user interface (GUI), but is more powerful and has little else in common.

Let’s take a look at a typical scenario where you can encounter this error.

You install the Debugging Tools for Windows from the Windows 10 kits. Then, you run the dx command or click DML links that are presented by other commands (x or dv, for example). In this situation, the debugger (WinDbg) may return the following error:

No .natvis files found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64\Visualizers

As the error message suggests, the reason behind this error is the debuggers that are included in the Windows 10 kits are some missing files (the .natvis files). These files typically help the debugger understand how a particular data type should be visualized.

No .natvis files found error when you run WinDbg

The .natvis files that should have been included with the kits debugger are slightly modified versions of the same files that are found in Visual Studio 2013. Installation of a supported edition of Visual Studio 2013 can be used to patch the Natvis content for the Windows 10 kits debugger to easily fix the WinDbg tools No .natvis files found error.

So, if you’re faced with this issue of No .natvis files found error when you run WinDbg tools for Windows 10, you can follow the instructions outlined below to resolve the issue.

Make sure that you use the 2013 edition of Visual Studio and not the 2015 edition. Visual Studio 2015 includes new features in Natvis that are not yet supported in the Windows 10 Kits debuggers.

To apply the patch once the installation of Visual Studio 2013, follow these steps:

• Press Windows key + R, to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog, copy and paste the environment variable below and hit Enter to find the Visual Studio 2013 Natvis files.

“%programfiles(x86)%Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0/Common7/Packages/Debugger/Visualizers”

• Next, find the installation location of the kits debugger: <KITS INSTALL PATH>\10\Debuggers\[x86\x64\arm]. The installation path is frequently C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits.

To find the location where the debugger of Windows 10 is installed, copy/paste the environment variable below into Run dialog box and hit Enter.

“%programfiles(x86)%Windows Kits/10/Debuggers/[x86 or x64 or arm]”

• Now, for each installed version of the debugger package (x86, x64, and arm), create a directory and name it Visualizers from an administrative command prompt.
• Continue by copying the *.NatVis from the Visual Studio installation to the newly created Visualizers directory in each of the x86, x64, and arm debugger packages that are installed on your system.
• Restart all Windows 10 kits debuggers.

That’s it! Once these steps are completed, the No .natvis files found error when you run WinDbg tools for Windows 10 should be resolved.

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