Cannot step into kernel with CUDA debugging in Visual Studio

Developer Tools Nsight Visual Studio Edition
1

I just started CUDA programming and having problem with debugger.

Going through this documentation: Getting Started with the CUDA Debugger — nsight-visual-studio-edition 13.0 documentation

“Start without debugging” on visual studio works on cuda-samples. However, I cannot go through kernel code with “Start CUDA debugging”. It either halts execution or freezes display output(gpu not responding).

image
image2115×1251 252 KB

The gpu clock rises only when I just start debugging, and never peaks when I continue on debugging.

Things I already have tried:

  • building cuda-samples with/without debug flag
  • numerous combinations for (device&host) cuda c/c++ in project properties
  • manually installing latest nsight vse
  • deleting graphics driver & nsight tools, and reinstalling latest cuda toolkit
  • installing latest game ready/studio driver
  • installing the latest driver before release of nsight vse
  • turning on/off TDR from nsight monitor and rebooting

Windows 11 24h2. Visual Studio the latest version, 17.14.16.

nvcc -V
nvcc: NVIDIA (R) Cuda compiler driver
Copyright (c) 2005-2025 NVIDIA Corporation
Built on Wed_Aug_20_13:58:20_Pacific_Daylight_Time_2025
Cuda compilation tools, release 13.0, V13.0.88
Build cuda_13.0.r13.0/compiler.36424714_0

nvidia-smi
Tue Sep 30 22:48:08 2025
±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 581.42 Driver Version: 581.42 CUDA Version: 13.0 |
±----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+
| GPU Name Driver-Model | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
| 0 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 WDDM | 00000000:01:00.0 On | N/A |
| 0% 49C P8 27W / 575W | 1934MiB / 32607MiB | 1% Default |
| | | N/A |
±----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+

2

Hello @thebest21c This is a known issue. We are expecting a fix in a future driver release (We will announce it in our release notes when a driver with the fix is available.) In the meantime, there is a workaround available to turn off “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling” for debugging. You can do this from the Settings app on Windows in System > Display > Graphics under “Advanced graphics settings”. This requires a reboot to take effect. Remember to flip back the setting once you’re done debugging. Disabling “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling” can lead to lower performance especially for production environments.

Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for using Nsight Visual Studio and please let us know if you run into any future issues!

3

Thank you for quick response.
I tried with scheduling option off, but it behaves the same after this message:

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even though I did not modify the source code. I will just wait for the next driver release

4

Thank you @thebest21c Is your VS running as admin? If not, can you try running as admin and seeing if that will resolve the issue (we have a separate bug that causes debugging to require privilege on Blackwell when it shouldn’t). Thank you.

5

Thank you. Applying both resolved the issue.

6

Glad to hear it. Thank you and best of luck!