Why does "new MediaCapture()" occasionally throws System.BadImageFormatException?

Hong 1,211

 _mediaCapture = new MediaCapture();

The above statement of a UWP occasionally throws the following exception:

System.BadImageFormatException: Invalid access to memory location. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800703E6)
Stack Trace: at System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalInterop.RoGetActivationFactory(String, Guid&, IntPtr&) + 0x197
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.FactoryCache.GetActivationFactoryInternal(String, RuntimeTypeHandle, ContextEntry) + 0x4a
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.FactoryCache.GetActivationFactory(String, RuntimeTypeHandle, Boolean) + 0x6c
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.McgMarshal.GetActivationFactory(String, RuntimeTypeHandle) + 0x24
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.McgMarshal.ActivateInstance(String) + 0x36
at Windows.Media.Capture.MediaCapture..ctor() + 0x1c

It is very rare. The statement usually works flawlessly.

Could anyone shed some light on this? What are the possible causes?

Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-01-25T06:14:30.257+00:00

@Hong Could you please tell me the version of your OS, the Min version and Target version of your UWP targeting?
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-01-25T18:41:35.11+00:00

The analytics shows the exception is thrown on the following versions of OS:
10.0.18363.1316
10.0.19042.746

Both Min and Max are 1903
Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-01-26T06:36:32.717+00:00

@Hong Is the occurrence of the System.BadImageFormatException completely accidental? Are there any rules? You could try to test the code with different machines or cameras. Or, you could try to check whether your code is loaded as a 64-bit assembly but contains 32-bit features or resources. To address this exception, set the project’s Platform target property to x86(instead of x64 or AnyCPU) and recompile.
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-01-26T11:55:19.61+00:00

Unfortunately, I am not able to reproduce this. This exception is reported via analytics. I can change the code to log more information in the analytics. The UWP package is distributed via one of the three packages as far as I know:
x64
x86
ARM

Is there a way to check via code which package the user has installed?
Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-01-27T09:06:53.517+00:00

@Hong It is not supported to determine which package has been installed. But you could get the environment variable: var architecture = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE");
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-01-27T12:47:44.99+00:00

Thank you. I will do that.

BTW, MediaCapture.InitializeAsync(settings) occasionally throws BadImageFormatException too. Its message:

%1 is not a valid Win32 application.

Stack trace:

at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() + 0x21
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task) + 0x70
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task) + 0x38
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ValidateEnd(Task) + 0x17
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.GetResult() + 0xb
Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-01-28T06:55:28.233+00:00

@Hong It’s hard to determine what causes these exceptions. Let’s check step by step what is the possible reason. You could find some official sample in See also of MediaCapture Class. Select samples which adapt your scenario to test in your local machine, and view if these exceptions will occur.
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-01-30T00:32:27.097+00:00
Not sure how those samples can help. If the exception is caused by code different from that of my app, then I would wonder why my app does not cause the exception on my local machine.

I have got two instances of System.BadImageFormatException both of which are from AMD64 (obtained by System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE") per your suggestion).

One is:

System.BadImageFormatException: %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

From

MediaCapture.InitializeAsync(settings)

The other is:

System.BadImageFormatException: Invalid access to memory location. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800703E6)

From

MediaCapture.CapturePhotoToStreamAsync()
Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-02-01T07:09:49.87+00:00

@Hong We will consult other engineers for your problem. There may be some delays.
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-02-01T13:48:28.62+00:00

Thank you. I have seen 12 cases of "%1 is not a valid Win32 application." from users across the world. I have to say It is still rare. It probably happens in no more than 0.1% of sessions. Please feel free to let me know if you would like to see more information logged in the analytics for diagnosis.
Yan Gu - MSFT 2,676 Reputation points

2021-02-09T02:11:49.437+00:00

@Hong We could not reproduce the exception in your scenario and I'm afraid it is not suitable to discuss in the Forum. For your scenario, I suggest that you might need to open a support ticket for this.

Please contact our paid phone support at MS Support. You will get 1:1 support on that. Please kindly note that your support ticket will be free if it is Microsoft's issue. After you open the support ticket, you need to tell us the support ticket number. We will take your case and handover it to support engineer.
Hong 1,211 Reputation points

2021-02-09T05:29:48.067+00:00

Thank you for looking into it and providing the suggestions.
Since I cannot reproduce it, I will have to wait for an app user to contact us with this error to investigate it further.

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Why does "new MediaCapture()" occasionally throws System.BadImageFormatException?