SharePoint 2010 - Debug Workflow After A Delay

The debugging features within Visual Studio are extremely useful when trying to track down the cause of a failure within your workflow code.  

To debug your workflow you usually attach the debugger to the relevant w3wp.exe process.  However, if your workflow contains a “Delay Activity” then SharePoint no longer uses the w3wp.exe process to execute the code after the delay but the OWSTIMER.exe (Time Job) process.

Using the workflow diagram above as an example:

CodeBeforeDelay

This code block executes within the w3wp.exe process.

CodeAfterDelay

This code executes within the OWSTIMER.exe process.

“Click here for details on how to attach the visual studio’s debugger to the OWSTIMER.exe process.”