The much advertised feature that Visual Studio 2010 allows you to debug crash dump files and step through the managed source code comes with a gotcha: it works only for .NET 4.0 assemblies. Here are the steps:
- Create a crash dump file on another computer using the Task Manager
- Open the solution in VS2010
- Open the .DMP file (File->Open…)
- Click on
Debug With Mixed(This will be visible only for .NET 4.0) - Source code will open and you will be able to inspect the exact cause and location of the exception
As far as debugging with native only is concerned Visual Studio is no more useful than WinDbg.