thanks for the update I have tried your last suggestions.
1 to 3 no problem
4 failed to run checked the OpenOCD files were missing and so I downloaded them as instructed.
now when I attach to process the work surface changes to a different layout but I still get and error message
"unable to start debugging. Unexpected GDB output from command -exec-run. Don't know how to run"
output>debug has the following
=thread-group-added,id="i1"
GNU gdb (GDB) 8.2.50.20190202-git
Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <
http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
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Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "--host=i686-w64-mingw32 --target=arm-none-eabi".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<
http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
<
http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/documentation/>.
For help, type "help".
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=cmd-param-changed,param="pagination",value="off"
Warning: Exceptions are not supported in this scenario.
The program '' has exited with code 42 (0x2a).