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Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks




Using the SerialPort class with USB serial devices causes application to crash when the device is surprise removed.

Article ID:952897
Last Review:May 9, 2008
Revision:1.1
Source: Microsoft Support

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RAPID PUBLISHING

RAPID PUBLISHING ARTICLES PROVIDE INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM WITHIN THE MICROSOFT SUPPORT ORGANIZATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS CREATED IN RESPONSE TO EMERGING OR UNIQUE TOPICS, OR IS INTENDED SUPPLEMENT OTHER KNOWLEDGE BASE INFORMATION.

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Action

Write a .Net application that uses the SerialPort object to communicate with USB serial devices.  While the application is running, remove the USB device.

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Result

The application will crash due to an unhandled UnauthorizedAccessException.

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Cause



This is a known issue in the products listed below.

The reason the application is having an unhandled exception is because the .Net garbage collector is cleaning up the SerialPort object on the finalizer thread - this is where all unreferenced .Net objects have their Finalize/Dispose methods called. Part of the SerialPort.Finalize method involves using its internal Win32 handle for the COM port in a Win32 API for unmanaged cleanup. Since the Win32 handle is no longer valid (the device has been removed) this call is failing, which in turn throws the UnauthorizedAccessException.  Because this happens on the finalizer thread of the GC, it is not possible for the application to catch the exception and continue executing.

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DISCLAIMER

MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY OR ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED ON THIS WEBSITE (THE “MATERIALS”) FOR ANY PURPOSE. THE MATERIALS MAY INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND MAY BE REVISED AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM AND EXCLUDE ALL REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, AND CONDITIONS WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON INFRINGEMENT, SATISFACTORY CONDITION OR QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIALS.

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APPLIES TO
•Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
•Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
•Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

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Keywords: 
kbnomt kbrapidpub KB952897

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