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c# wpf SaveFileDialog crash even inside Try..Catch

I have a WPF application where I use a SaveFileDialog.
The flow is as follow:
1- The user uses the SaveFileDialog to choose a file name and close the dialog
2- The app tries to write to the file.
3- When trying to write to the file, if the file is locked, an IOException is thrown.
4- If I try to open the SaveFileDialog again, the app crashes with "A heap has been corrupted" on ntdll.dll
I can't figure out a solution. Even inside a Try..Catch the app crashes.
Code for the SaveFileDialog
try{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
SaveFileDialog sfd = new SaveFileDialog();
sfd.Reset();
sfd.AddExtension = true;
sfd.CheckFileExists = false;
sfd.CheckPathExists = true;
sfd.CreatePrompt = false;
sfd.OverwritePrompt = true;
sfd.DefaultExt = defaultExt;
sfd.Filter = filter;
sfd.Title = "Save As " + fileTypeDisplay;
sfd.InitialDirectory = specialFolder;
sfd.FileName = newFileNameNoExt;
sfd.FilterIndex = 1;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(specialFolder))
{
FileDialogCustomPlace cp = new FileDialogCustomPlace(specialFolder); // does not throw exceptions
sfd.CustomPlaces.Add(cp);
}
try
{
if (sfd.ShowDialog(MyMainWindow) == true) //<-- ERROR HERE
{
fileToSave = sfd.FileName;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
sfd = null;
}
})).Wait();
}
catch(exception ex)
{
...log exception...
}

This is not the answer but how I solved the crash. This is a legacy code from long ago and the clue is that the crash is always after an exception. But why an exception would cause problems to the SaveFileDialog and cause the app to crash?
Going deeper on the code I learned the code below is execute after the file is selected by the user on the SaveFileDialog.
Note the call to the method AnotherUserIsLockingPkg in the catch block.
When I commented out the call to that method, the call to SaveFileDialog.ShowDialog() on the question stopped to crash the application. I'll try to follow other suggestions and see the behavior.
If anybody has any idea of why that happens, comments are appreciated.
FileStream strm = null;
try
{
strm = fi.Open(FileMode.Open, forFileAccessMode, fileShare);
}
catch (IOException) // the file is already open
{
...
fiuEx.IsByOtherUser = AnotherUserIsLockingPkg(filePath);
...
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
...
}
finally
{
....
}
The code below is used to check if the file is being locked by other application. It uses some API calls. Looks like this code was adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/20623311/3044154
The method AnotherUserIsLockingPkg is listed down below.
#region Check if another user's process is locking a pkg
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
private const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
private const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
private const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
//private enum RM_APP_TYPE
//{
// RmUnknownApp = 0,
// RmMainWindow = 1,
// RmOtherWindow = 2,
// RmService = 3,
// RmExplorer = 4,
// RmConsole = 5,
// RmCritical = 1000
//}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
private struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)]
public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)]
public string strServiceShortName;
//public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
private static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle,
UInt32 nFiles,
string[] rgsFilenames,
UInt32 nApplications,
[In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications,
UInt32 nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
private static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
private static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle,
out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo,
[In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
/// <summary>
/// Checks if a pkg has been locked by another user
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">The pkg file path.</param>
/// <param name="includeCurrentUserProcesses">Check also for current user's processes</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static bool AnotherUserIsLockingPkg(string path, bool includeCurrentUserProcesses = false)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
Process currentProcess = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded = 0,
pnProcInfo = 0,
lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = new string[] { path }; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint)resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Create an array to store the process results
RM_PROCESS_INFO[] processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
//pnProcInfo contains all the processes that are using the pkg
if (res == 0)
{
// Enumerate all of the results and check for waf3 process and not same session
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
if (includeCurrentUserProcesses)
{
if (processInfo[i].strAppName == currentProcess.ProcessName)
return true;
}
else
{
if (processInfo[i].strAppName == currentProcess.MainModule.ModuleName && processInfo[i].TSSessionId != currentProcess.SessionId)
return true;
}
}
// catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
catch (ArgumentException)
{ }
}
}
else
throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
}
else if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return false;
}
#endregion

Check if a file is locked in C# [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Is there a way to check if a file is in use?
(20 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
Is there any way to check whether a file is locked without using a try/catch block?
Right now, the only way I know of is to just open the file and catch any System.IO.IOException.

When I faced with a similar problem, I finished with the following code:
public class FileManager
{
private string _fileName;
private int _numberOfTries;
private int _timeIntervalBetweenTries;
private FileStream GetStream(FileAccess fileAccess)
{
var tries = 0;
while (true)
{
try
{
return File.Open(_fileName, FileMode.Open, fileAccess, Fileshare.None);
}
catch (IOException e)
{
if (!IsFileLocked(e))
throw;
if (++tries > _numberOfTries)
throw new MyCustomException("The file is locked too long: " + e.Message, e);
Thread.Sleep(_timeIntervalBetweenTries);
}
}
}
private static bool IsFileLocked(IOException exception)
{
int errorCode = Marshal.GetHRForException(exception) & ((1 << 16) - 1);
return errorCode == 32 || errorCode == 33;
}
// other code
}

The other answers rely on old information. This one provides a better solution.
Long ago it was impossible to reliably get the list of processes locking a file because Windows simply did not track that information. To support the Restart Manager API, that information is now tracked. The Restart Manager API is available beginning with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (Restart Manager: Run-time Requirements).
I put together code that takes the path of a file and returns a List<Process> of all processes that are locking that file.
static public class FileUtil
{
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)]
public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)]
public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle,
UInt32 nFiles,
string[] rgsFilenames,
UInt32 nApplications,
[In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications,
UInt32 nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle,
out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo,
[In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
///
/// </remarks>
static public List<Process> WhoIsLocking(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
List<Process> processes = new List<Process>();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded = 0,
pnProcInfo = 0,
lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = new string[] { path }; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint)resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Create an array to store the process results
RM_PROCESS_INFO[] processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == 0)
{
processes = new List<Process>((int)pnProcInfo);
// Enumerate all of the results and add them to the
// list to be returned
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
// catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
catch (ArgumentException) { }
}
}
else
throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
}
else if (res != 0)
throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return processes;
}
}
UPDATE
Here is another discussion with sample code on how to use the Restart Manager API.

No, unfortunately, and if you think about it, that information would be worthless anyway since the file could become locked the very next second (read: short timespan).
Why specifically do you need to know if the file is locked anyway? Knowing that might give us some other way of giving you good advice.
If your code would look like this:
if not locked then
open and update file
Then between the two lines, another process could easily lock the file, giving you the same problem you were trying to avoid to begin with: exceptions.

You can also check if any process is using this file and show a list of programs you must close to continue like an installer does.
public static string GetFileProcessName(string filePath)
{
Process[] procs = Process.GetProcesses();
string fileName = Path.GetFileName(filePath);
foreach (Process proc in procs)
{
if (proc.MainWindowHandle != new IntPtr(0) && !proc.HasExited)
{
ProcessModule[] arr = new ProcessModule[proc.Modules.Count];
foreach (ProcessModule pm in proc.Modules)
{
if (pm.ModuleName == fileName)
return proc.ProcessName;
}
}
}
return null;
}

Instead of using interop you can use the .NET FileStream class methods Lock and Unlock:
FileStream.Lock
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filestream.lock.aspx
FileStream.Unlock
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filestream.unlock.aspx

A variation of DixonD's excellent answer (above).
public static bool TryOpen(string path,
FileMode fileMode,
FileAccess fileAccess,
FileShare fileShare,
TimeSpan timeout,
out Stream stream)
{
var endTime = DateTime.Now + timeout;
while (DateTime.Now < endTime)
{
if (TryOpen(path, fileMode, fileAccess, fileShare, out stream))
return true;
}
stream = null;
return false;
}
public static bool TryOpen(string path,
FileMode fileMode,
FileAccess fileAccess,
FileShare fileShare,
out Stream stream)
{
try
{
stream = File.Open(path, fileMode, fileAccess, fileShare);
return true;
}
catch (IOException e)
{
if (!FileIsLocked(e))
throw;
stream = null;
return false;
}
}
private const uint HRFileLocked = 0x80070020;
private const uint HRPortionOfFileLocked = 0x80070021;
private static bool FileIsLocked(IOException ioException)
{
var errorCode = (uint)Marshal.GetHRForException(ioException);
return errorCode == HRFileLocked || errorCode == HRPortionOfFileLocked;
}
Usage:
private void Sample(string filePath)
{
Stream stream = null;
try
{
var timeOut = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1);
if (!TryOpen(filePath,
FileMode.Open,
FileAccess.ReadWrite,
FileShare.ReadWrite,
timeOut,
out stream))
return;
// Use stream...
}
finally
{
if (stream != null)
stream.Close();
}
}

Here's a variation of DixonD's code that adds number of seconds to wait for file to unlock, and try again:
public bool IsFileLocked(string filePath, int secondsToWait)
{
bool isLocked = true;
int i = 0;
while (isLocked && ((i < secondsToWait) || (secondsToWait == 0)))
{
try
{
using (File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open)) { }
return false;
}
catch (IOException e)
{
var errorCode = Marshal.GetHRForException(e) & ((1 << 16) - 1);
isLocked = errorCode == 32 || errorCode == 33;
i++;
if (secondsToWait !=0)
new System.Threading.ManualResetEvent(false).WaitOne(1000);
}
}
return isLocked;
}
if (!IsFileLocked(file, 10))
{
...
}
else
{
throw new Exception(...);
}

You could call LockFile via interop on the region of file you are interested in. This will not throw an exception, if it succeeds you will have a lock on that portion of the file (which is held by your process), that lock will be held until you call UnlockFile or your process dies.

Then between the two lines, another process could easily lock the file, giving you the same problem you were trying to avoid to begin with: exceptions.
However, this way, you would know that the problem is temporary, and to retry later. (E.g., you could write a thread that, if encountering a lock while trying to write, keeps retrying until the lock is gone.)
The IOException, on the other hand, is not by itself specific enough that locking is the cause of the IO failure. There could be reasons that aren't temporary.

You can see if the file is locked by trying to read or lock it yourself first.
Please see my answer here for more information.

Same thing but in Powershell
function Test-FileOpen
{
Param
([string]$FileToOpen)
try
{
$openFile =([system.io.file]::Open($FileToOpen,[system.io.filemode]::Open))
$open =$true
$openFile.close()
}
catch
{
$open = $false
}
$open
}

What I ended up doing is:
internal void LoadExternalData() {
FileStream file;
if (TryOpenRead("filepath/filename", 5, out file)) {
using (file)
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(file)) {
// do something
}
}
}
internal bool TryOpenRead(string path, int timeout, out FileStream file) {
bool isLocked = true;
bool condition = true;
do {
try {
file = File.OpenRead(path);
return true;
}
catch (IOException e) {
var errorCode = Marshal.GetHRForException(e) & ((1 << 16) - 1);
isLocked = errorCode == 32 || errorCode == 33;
condition = (isLocked && timeout > 0);
if (condition) {
// we only wait if the file is locked. If the exception is of any other type, there's no point on keep trying. just return false and null;
timeout--;
new System.Threading.ManualResetEvent(false).WaitOne(1000);
}
}
}
while (condition);
file = null;
return false;
}

SetFilePointer on C# suddenly stop work

Background:
In my project I need to scan my HDD sector by sector. I am using Pinvoke of Kernel32.dll.
The size of the HDD is 160GB (nearly 312,000,000 LBA).
The loop scans every single iteration 8000 sectors.
The problem:
Somehow, after scanning 40000 sectors successfuly, the loop stacks without moving, and I even cannot terminate the application unless I will disconnect the HDD (is external media).
I know that my media doesn't have any corrupted sectors.
When setting the file pointer using SetFilePointer of Kernel32.dll, I pay attention to Low and High ints for offset, but the offset even not reaching 1GB, so I guess that there is nothing to do in this point, but somewhere else (I think so, but I am not sure, I am quite new to this Pinvoke).
This is my following code:
public enum EMoveMethod : uint
{
Begin = 0,
Current = 1,
End = 2
}
[DllImport("Kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int SetFilePointer(
[In] SafeFileHandle hFile,
[In] int lDistanceToMove,
[In, Out] ref int lpDistanceToMoveHigh,
[In] EMoveMethod dwMoveMethod);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern SafeFileHandle CreateFile(string lpFileName, uint dwDesiredAccess,
uint dwShareMode, IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes, uint dwCreationDisposition,
uint dwFlagsAndAttributes, IntPtr hTemplateFile);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
internal extern static int ReadFile(SafeFileHandle handle, byte[] bytes,
int numBytesToRead, out int numBytesRead, IntPtr overlapped_MustBeZero);
static public int BytesPerSector(int drive)
{
int driveCounter = 0;
try
{
ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\CIMV2", "SELECT * FROM Win32_DiskDrive");
foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in searcher.Get())
{
if (driveCounter == drive)
{
var t = queryObj["BytesPerSector"];
return int.Parse(t.ToString());
}
driveCounter++;
}
}
catch (ManagementException) { return -1; }
return 0;
}
static public int GetTotalSectors(int drive)
{
int driveCount = 0;
try
{
ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\CIMV2", "SELECT * FROM Win32_DiskDrive");
foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in searcher.Get())
{
if (driveCount == drive)
{
var t = queryObj["TotalSectors"];
return int.Parse(t.ToString());
}
driveCount++;
}
}
catch (ManagementException) { return -1; }
return -1;
}
static private byte[] DumpSector(string drive, int sector, int bytesPerSector)
{
const uint GENERIC_READ = 0x80000000;
const uint OPEN_EXISTING = 3;
byte[] buf = null;
try
{
SafeFileHandle handleValue = CreateFile(drive, GENERIC_READ, 0, IntPtr.Zero, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, IntPtr.Zero);
if (handleValue.IsInvalid) { Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error()); }
long sec = (long)sector * (long)bytesPerSector;
buf = new byte[bytesPerSector];
int read = 0, moveToHigh = (int)(sec >> 32);
int Res=SetFilePointer(handleValue, (int)(sec & 0xffffffff), ref moveToHigh, EMoveMethod.Begin);
if (Res == -1) { Console.WriteLine("ERROR: "); return null; }
if (ReadFile(handleValue, buf, bytesPerSector, out read, IntPtr.Zero)==0)
{
Console.WriteLine("ERROR: "); return null;
}
handleValue.Close();
}
catch (Exception Ex) { Console.WriteLine("ERROR: {0}", Ex.Message); return null; }
return buf;
}
static void Scanner()
{
if (DRV == -1) { Console.WriteLine("ERROR: Please select drive using <A>+ drive index number."); return; } // error
const int BFB = 8000;
byte[] b = DumpSector(HDDs[DRV], MyOffset, BlockSize * BFB);
int Sec16 = 0, IntOff = 0, JMP = 0;
string DMP = "";
long FF = ((long)MyOffset * BlockSize) + (IntOff * 16);
Console.Write("0x{0} ", FF.ToString("X10"));
for (int byt = 0; byt < b.Length; byt++)
{
DMP += (char)b[byt];
Console.Write("{0} ", b[byt].ToString("X2"));
Sec16++; FF++;
if (Sec16 == 8) Console.Write(" ");
if (Sec16 == 16)
{
Console.Write(" {0}", DMP.Replace("\x07", "").Replace("\x08", "").Replace("\x0a", "").Replace("\x0d", "").Replace("\x09", "")); Console.WriteLine();
DMP = ""; Sec16 = 0; IntOff++; JMP++;
if (JMP == 32) { JMP = 0; IntOff += 224; FF += 3584; byt += 3584; }
Console.Write("0x{0} ", FF.ToString("X10"));
}
}
Console.WriteLine("- End of scan -");
}
The program is Console application in order to speedup the process.

Even if you had misused some API your program would not just have stopped. THis is unlikely to be an API usage error.
This is probably a hardware error. Non-killable processes are a typical symptom. A process can only be killed by Windows when the last pending IO is completed. The disk driver is waiting to complete your IO but the disk never responds (or only after a long timeout).

Application.Quit() method failing to clear process

I've seen a lot of posts returned from a Google search about this, but none of the solutions referenced in them clear this up for me. So, I thought I'd try myself.
After this block of code:
PowerPoint.Application powerPoint = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Application();
powerPoint.Visible = Office.MsoTriState.msoTrue;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Presentation ppt = null;enter code here
I can issue the ppt.Quit(); command and Powerpoint will close and no Process is left running.
However, if after this code I do this:
ppt = powerPoint.Presentations.Open(localCopyOfPPT,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoCTrue,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTriStateMixed,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTrue);
ppt.Close();
powerPoint.Quit();
Then, the Quit() won't work. Something about opening the presentation, even if I then close it, prevents the Quit() from working, it appears.
Anybody have any thoughts about how I can get the application to quit correctlY?

The following KB Aritcle might help you get to the bottom of the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317109
You might need to explicity call System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject on your ppt instance.

powerPoint.Presentations.Open(..)
Note the use of the Presentations object. COM uses manual memory management based on reference counting, every COM interface has an AddRef() and a Release() method. The AddRef call is automatic when you obtain an object. When you're done with it you have to call the Release() method. Using the Presentations object here adds a reference to the Presentations object. Which in turn adds a reference to the internal application object.
That's very incompatible with memory management in the .NET framework. It is automatic, the garbage collector takes care of it. Which it does for COM objects too, the interop wrapper has a finalizer, it decrements the reference count when it sees that no .NET references are left on the COM object.
Perhaps you see where this is going: PowerPoint cannot exit until all object references are released. Which cannot happen until the garbage collector runs and the finalizer thread completed. Your call to the Quit() method does not make the garbage collector run. Only GC.Collect() + GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers can do that.
You can also take the manual approach. It requires Marshal.ReleaseComObject(). Doing this is difficult to get right, note that you don't have a reference to the Presentations object stored anywhere in your code. You'd have to completely rewrite your code to keep track of these references so you can call ReleaseComObject() on them.
I cannot recommend this. If you really really want PowerPoint to quit then the better way is to make sure all your references are null and call GC.Collect() and GC.WFPF. I cannot recommend this either. It will quit, eventually. Don't worry about it.

I face Same problem in my work...You try below code it's working
PowerPoint.Application powerPoint = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Application();
//powerPoint.Visible = Office.MsoTriState.msoTrue;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Presentation ppt = null;
try
{
ppt = powerPoint.Presentations.Open(localCopyOfPPT,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoCTrue,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTriStateMixed,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoFalse);
ppt.Close();
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(ppt);
}catch(){}finally
{
powerPoint.Quit();
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(powerPoint);
GC.Collect();
}

Try the below.
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
You may have to use this in this way also
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
Because, see the last point in this page http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/office/CSAutomatePowerPoint-b312d416

Alternative for your problem. find the process once job is done and then kill it.
code:
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcessesByName("powerpnt");
for (int i = 0; i < processes.Count(); i++)
{
processes[i].Kill();
}
Namespace: System.Diagnostics

If you have multiple instances of PowerPoint open you could use something along these lines - This is the easiest way I found to close PowerPoint applications that will not clear when asked to quit.
This is how I end up killing/closing PowerPoint (specified by document path that has been opened)
/// <summary>
/// Close open PowerPoint document
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path to document</param>
/// <param name="saveChanges">Save changes to document</param>
public void PowerPointCloseOpenDocument(String path, Boolean saveChanges = true)
{
ppApp = getPowerPointApp(path);
PowerPoint.Presentation pp = null;
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
{
foreach (PowerPoint.Presentation p in ppApp.Presentations)
{
if (p.FullName.Equals(path, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
{
try
{
pp = p;
}
catch (Exception)
{ }
break;
}
}
}
if(saveChanges)
{
if(pp!=null)
{
pp.Save();
}
}
if(pp!= null)
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(pp);
}
if(null != ppApp)
{
Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(ppApp);
}
var procs = FileUtil.WhoIsLocking(path);
if(procs!= null)
{
foreach(var proc in procs)
{
proc.Kill();
}
}
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
GC.Collect();
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
}
private PowerPoint.Application getPowerPointApp(String path = "")
{
try
{
PowerPoint.Application ppapp = null;
try
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
{
ppapp = ((PowerPoint.Presentation)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.BindToMoniker(path)).Application;
}
}
catch (Exception) { }
if (ppapp == null)
{
try
{
ppapp = (PowerPoint.Application)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("PowerPoint.Application");
}
catch (Exception)
{
ppapp = new PowerPoint.Application();
ppapp.Visible = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState.msoTrue;
}
}
if (ppapp != null)
{
ppapp.DisplayAlerts = Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.PpAlertLevel.ppAlertsNone;
}
try { ppapp.Activate(); }
catch (Exception) { }
return ppapp;
}
catch (Exception)
{
return (PowerPoint.Application)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("PowerPoint.Application"));
}
}
The File Util Class which provides you with the list of processes currently locking a document.
static public class FileUtil
{
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)]
public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)]
public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle,
UInt32 nFiles,
string[] rgsFilenames,
UInt32 nApplications,
[In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications,
UInt32 nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle,
out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo,
[In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
///
/// </remarks>
static public List<Process> WhoIsLocking(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
List<Process> processes = new List<Process>();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded = 0,
pnProcInfo = 0,
lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = new string[] { path }; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint)resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Create an array to store the process results
RM_PROCESS_INFO[] processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == 0)
{
processes = new List<Process>((int)pnProcInfo);
// Enumerate all of the results and add them to the
// list to be returned
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
// catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
catch (ArgumentException) { }
}
}
else throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
}
else if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return processes;
}
}

Why might LsaAddAccountRights return STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER?

Here's some C# source code which implements an unmanaged DLL (advapi32).
public void AddPrivileges(string account, string privilege)
{
IntPtr pSid = GetSIDInformation(account);
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] privileges = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
privileges[0] = InitLsaString(privilege);
uint ret = Win32Sec.LsaAddAccountRights(lsaHandle, pSid, privileges, 1);
if (ret == 0)
return;
if (ret == STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED)
{
throw new UnauthorizedAccessException();
}
if ((ret == STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES) || (ret == STATUS_NO_MEMORY))
{
throw new OutOfMemoryException();
}
int error = Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError((int)ret);
throw new Win32Exception(error);
}
The variable values at runtime are as follows:
privilege: "SeServiceLogonRight"
account: "named"
ret: 3221225485 (STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER)
error: 87
When caught, the message within the Win32Exception is: "The parameter is incorrect"
The code is running on Windows Web Server 2008. I can verify that the account does exist, and this code works fine on another server... I'm not sure if this could have been caused by Windows 2008 SP2. I'm thinking that I've forgotten to install something, but I can't think what...
The code is from: http://weblogs.asp.net/avnerk/archive/2007/05/10/granting-user-rights-in-c.aspx

Following the provided link through to the code at http://www.hightechtalks.com/csharp/lsa-functions-276626.html
IntPtr GetSIDInformation(string account)
{
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] names = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2 lts;
IntPtr tsids = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr tdom = IntPtr.Zero;
names[0] = InitLsaString(account);
lts.Sid = IntPtr.Zero;
Console.WriteLine("String account: {0}", names[0].Length);
int ret = Win32Sec.LsaLookupNames2(lsaHandle, 0, 1, names, ref tdom, ref tsids);
if (ret != 0)
{
throw new Win32Exception(Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError(ret));
}
lts = (LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2) Marshal.PtrToStructure(tsids,
typeof(LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2));
Win32Sec.LsaFreeMemory(tsids);
Win32Sec.LsaFreeMemory(tdom);
return lts.Sid;
}
lts (an LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2 struct) contains a pointer that points at memory that is freed by the call to Win32Sec.LsaFreeMemory. Using the pointer after the memory is freed is bad practice and will have unpredictable results -- it might even "work".
Tweaking the code at the link by using the SecurityIdentifier class (.Net 2 and above) along a little cleanup of unneeded code avoids the memory problem.
using System;
namespace Willys.LsaSecurity
{
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security;
using System.Security.Principal;
using LSA_HANDLE = IntPtr;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES
{
internal int Length;
internal IntPtr RootDirectory;
internal IntPtr ObjectName;
internal int Attributes;
internal IntPtr SecurityDescriptor;
internal IntPtr SecurityQualityOfService;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
struct LSA_UNICODE_STRING
{
internal ushort Length;
internal ushort MaximumLength;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
internal string Buffer;
}
sealed class Win32Sec
{
[DllImport("advapi32", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true), SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityAttribute]
internal static extern uint LsaOpenPolicy(
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] SystemName,
ref LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES ObjectAttributes,
int AccessMask,
out IntPtr PolicyHandle
);
[DllImport("advapi32", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true), SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityAttribute]
internal static extern uint LsaAddAccountRights(
LSA_HANDLE PolicyHandle,
IntPtr pSID,
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] UserRights,
int CountOfRights
);
[DllImport("advapi32")]
internal static extern int LsaNtStatusToWinError(int NTSTATUS);
[DllImport("advapi32")]
internal static extern int LsaClose(IntPtr PolicyHandle);
}
sealed class Sid : IDisposable
{
public IntPtr pSid = IntPtr.Zero;
public SecurityIdentifier sid = null;
public Sid(string account)
{
sid = (SecurityIdentifier) (new NTAccount(account)).Translate(typeof(SecurityIdentifier));
Byte[] buffer = new Byte[sid.BinaryLength];
sid.GetBinaryForm(buffer, 0);
pSid = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(sid.BinaryLength);
Marshal.Copy(buffer, 0, pSid, sid.BinaryLength);
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (pSid != IntPtr.Zero)
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(pSid);
pSid = IntPtr.Zero;
}
GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
}
~Sid()
{
Dispose();
}
}
public sealed class LsaWrapper : IDisposable
{
enum Access : int
{
POLICY_READ = 0x20006,
POLICY_ALL_ACCESS = 0x00F0FFF,
POLICY_EXECUTE = 0X20801,
POLICY_WRITE = 0X207F8
}
const uint STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED = 0xc0000022;
const uint STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES = 0xc000009a;
const uint STATUS_NO_MEMORY = 0xc0000017;
IntPtr lsaHandle;
public LsaWrapper()
: this(null)
{ }
// // local system if systemName is null
public LsaWrapper(string systemName)
{
LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES lsaAttr;
lsaAttr.RootDirectory = IntPtr.Zero;
lsaAttr.ObjectName = IntPtr.Zero;
lsaAttr.Attributes = 0;
lsaAttr.SecurityDescriptor = IntPtr.Zero;
lsaAttr.SecurityQualityOfService = IntPtr.Zero;
lsaAttr.Length = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES));
lsaHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] system = null;
if (systemName != null)
{
system = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
system[0] = InitLsaString(systemName);
}
uint ret = Win32Sec.LsaOpenPolicy(system, ref lsaAttr,
(int) Access.POLICY_ALL_ACCESS, out lsaHandle);
if (ret == 0)
return;
if (ret == STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED)
{
throw new UnauthorizedAccessException();
}
if ((ret == STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES) || (ret == STATUS_NO_MEMORY))
{
throw new OutOfMemoryException();
}
throw new Win32Exception(Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError((int) ret));
}
public void AddPrivileges(string account, string privilege)
{
uint ret = 0;
using (Sid sid = new Sid(account))
{
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] privileges = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
privileges[0] = InitLsaString(privilege);
ret = Win32Sec.LsaAddAccountRights(lsaHandle, sid.pSid, privileges, 1);
}
if (ret == 0)
return;
if (ret == STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED)
{
throw new UnauthorizedAccessException();
}
if ((ret == STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES) || (ret == STATUS_NO_MEMORY))
{
throw new OutOfMemoryException();
}
throw new Win32Exception(Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError((int) ret));
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (lsaHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
{
Win32Sec.LsaClose(lsaHandle);
lsaHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
}
GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
}
~LsaWrapper()
{
Dispose();
}
// helper functions
static LSA_UNICODE_STRING InitLsaString(string s)
{
// Unicode strings max. 32KB
if (s.Length > 0x7ffe)
throw new ArgumentException("String too long");
LSA_UNICODE_STRING lus = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING();
lus.Buffer = s;
lus.Length = (ushort) (s.Length * sizeof(char));
lus.MaximumLength = (ushort) (lus.Length + sizeof(char));
return lus;
}
}
}

I couldn't get this to work, so instead I used the source code from the CodeProject project, LSA Functions - Privileges and Impersonation which works nicely.

lts.Sid is freed before returning in GetSIDInformation.
Moving the codes of GetSIDInformation out. It worked fine for .Net 4.5.
public void AddPrivileges(string account, string privilege)
{
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] names = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2 lts;
IntPtr tsids = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr tdom = IntPtr.Zero;
names[0] = InitLsaString(account);
lts.Sid = IntPtr.Zero;
Console.WriteLine("String account: {0}", names[0].Length);
int ret1 = Win32Sec.LsaLookupNames2(lsaHandle, 0, 1, names, ref tdom, ref tsids);
if (ret1 != 0)
throw new Win32Exception(Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError(ret1));
lts = (LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2)Marshal.PtrToStructure(tsids, typeof(LSA_TRANSLATED_SID2));
IntPtr pSid = lts.Sid;
//IntPtr pSid = GetSIDInformation(account);
LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] privileges = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
privileges[0] = InitLsaString(privilege);
uint ret = Win32Sec.LsaAddAccountRights(lsaHandle, pSid, privileges, 1);
Win32Sec.LsaFreeMemory(tsids);
Win32Sec.LsaFreeMemory(tdom);
if (ret == 0)
return;
if (ret == STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED)
{
throw new UnauthorizedAccessException();
}
if ((ret == STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES) || (ret == STATUS_NO_MEMORY))
{
throw new OutOfMemoryException();
}
throw new Win32Exception(Win32Sec.LsaNtStatusToWinError((int)ret));
}

I came across the same error when calling LsaAddAccountRights and I found out I was using sizeof(char) instead of sizeof(wchar) when initializing LSA_UNICODE_STRING.
I checked the code at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/lsadotnet.aspx and found similar issue:
static LSA_UNICODE_STRING InitLsaString(string s)
{
// Unicode strings max. 32KB
if (s.Length > 0x7ffe)
throw new ArgumentException("String too long");
LSA_UNICODE_STRING lus = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING();
lus.Buffer = s;
lus.Length = (ushort)(s.Length * sizeof(char));
lus.MaximumLength = (ushort)(lus.Length + sizeof(char));
return lus;
}
Should be something like:
lus.Length = (ushort)(s.Length * UnicodeEncoding.CharSize);
lus.MaximumLength = (ushort)(lus.Length + UnicodeEncoding.CharSize);

I was able to get this working on one box but then on another box it failed with the error you received:
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The parameter is incorrect
I discovered that the root cause of this issue for me had to do with architecture of the process that was running the code. I was running a msbuild 32-bit process which worked fine, but when I used the 64-bit msbuild.exe to run this it failed with this error.
I hope that helps!
Regards,
Brandon

I found this problem is related to .NET 4.0. Downgrade your project to .NET 3.5 and it will work.