How debug process that not started with ida? [duplicate]

Question

I am trying to debug two different exe files,in windows.

The first exe launches the second, and the second exe doesn't work well unless the first starts it.

I want to be able to debug the second exe.

I want to debug the begging of the exe, so attaching isn't an option.

Does IDA have a way to debug a process that's launched by another?

The references to "exe" makes me think that this is about windows, and therefore not a dup — Avery3R, Commented Jul 23, 2018 at 20:49
@Avery3R Although linked question seems to revolve around ELF files specifically, I believe the answer applies just the same regardless of OS. — NirIzr, Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 1:28
@Megabeets that not help, event I breakpoint in fork orexecve I can't debug the new process in the beginning — Jonert6544, Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 9:19

Avery3R · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-23 20:42:14Z

In a similar way, windows services must also be started by a special process. Microsoft has documentation on how to debug these kinds of processes.

The applicable section is "Configure a service to start with the WinDbg debugger attached"

Locate the following registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
Create a new subkey with the name of the executable
Within that subkey create a new string value named Debugger
Set that value to the path to your debugger. See IDA's documentation for the needed command line flags.

1 Answer 1