How to Check Objects References in Visual Studio

We can use a tool in Visual Studio when debugging to check whether two objects point to the same instance. First, add the objects/variables that we want to check to Watch list. Right click one of the variables, then select Make Object ID.

After doing this, an ID will be displayed on the Value column in this format '{ID_Number#}'. At the same time, all other objects that point to the same instance will have this displayed on their values as well.

If two or more variables have the same ID number then it means that they point to the same instance.

If we rather would like to check the objects manually, we could use Object.ReferenceEquals(object1, object2) method that will return a boolean value.