AccessViolationException on VISTA only

Question

I have a WPF/Winforms application that works perfectly fine on XP, as well as Win 7. But on Vista, ONLY sometimes - may be 20-30% of the time I see this:

Any help is much appreciated

Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException
Stack:
   at MS.Win32.PresentationCore.UnsafeNativeMethods+WICImagingFactory.CreateDecoderFromStream(IntPtr, IntPtr, System.Guid ByRef, UInt32, IntPtr ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.SetupDecoderFromUriOrStream(System.Uri, System.IO.Stream, System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapCacheOption, System.Guid ByRef, Boolean ByRef, System.IO.Stream ByRef, System.IO.UnmanagedMemoryStream ByRef, Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeFileHandle ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.CreateFromUriOrStream(System.Uri, System.Uri, System.IO.Stream, System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapCreateOptions, System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapCacheOption, System.Net.Cache.RequestCachePolicy, Boolean)
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage.FinalizeCreation()
   at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage.EndInit()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.Convert.ToSystemWindowsMediaImagingBitmapImage(System.Drawing.Image)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHostPropertyMap.UpdateBackgroundImage(System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHost)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHostPropertyMap.BackgroundPropertyTranslator(System.Object, System.String, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.PropertyMap.RunTranslator(System.Windows.Forms.Integration.PropertyTranslator, System.Object, System.String, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.PropertyMap.OnPropertyChanged(System.Object, System.String, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHost.OnPropertyChanged(System.String, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHost.UpdateBackground()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHost.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnParentVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnParentVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnParentVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnVisibleChanged(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.SetVisibleCore(Boolean)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.SetVisibleCore(Boolean)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible(Boolean)
   at WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockContentHandler.SetVisible()
   at WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockPane.set_ActiveContent(WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.IDockContent)
   at WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockContentHandler.Activate()
   at WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockContentHandler.Show(WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockPanel, WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockState)
   at WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockContent.Show(WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockPanel, WeifenLuo.WinFormsUI.Docking.DockState)
   at MyApp.MainForm.OpenVisualSqlDesigner(Boolean, ToolkitUI.Model.Table)
   at MyApp.Commands.TableCommands.VisualDesignerCommand.Execute()
   at MyApp.Commands.CommandToolstripMenuItem.OnClick(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(System.EventArgs, System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemEventType)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(System.EventArgs, System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemEventType)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef, System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr, Int32, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(System.Windows.Forms.Form)

Answer 1

Thanks a lot - and very helpful. Turning on unmanaged code debugging led me to the problem being "This indicates memory is corrupt elsewhere". Since I didnt too much finagling with memory, I knew it must have been one of the outside dlls that were being referneced. IT turns out that ICSharpCode.TextEditor.dll is the root of the issue, and updating to the latest version of it fixed it!!!

Answer 2

WIC, what you see on the top of the stack trace, is the underlying imaging library for WPF. It is a COM component, written in C++. It is not unusual for unmanaged code to bomb with AccessViolation. You could possibly wring some more info out of the stack trace by enabling unmanaged code debugging and enabling the Microsoft Symbol Server.

Nevertheless, the odds are not good to put any kind of dent in this problem. The only knobs you can tweak is the image itself, it might be corrupt in a way that makes the code bomb. And make sure that service pack 1 is installed on the machine. Beyond this, you'll need the help from Microsoft Support. They'll need a minidump of the crashing program and the image that causes the trouble.

Answer 3

It looks like this exception occurred when the application tried to create a BitmapImage, could it be that your system blocks or locks access to a specific file that is needed to load the image from?