How to avoid a System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException?

Question

In my Microsoft Surface project, I always get a lot of the following exceptions:

'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\mscorlib\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.Utilities\10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.Utilities.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Windows.Forms\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Windows.Forms.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Drawing\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Drawing.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.Utilities.Sync\10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.Utilities.Sync.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Debugger.Runtime\10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Debugger.Runtime.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Users\Roflcoptr\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\MuReSe\MuReSe\bin\Debug\MuReSe.vshost.exe'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Core\3.5.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Core.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Xml.Linq\3.5.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Xml.Linq.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Data.DataSetExtensions\3.5.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Data.DataSetExtensions.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\System.Data\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Data.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Xml\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Xml.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\WindowsBase\3.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\WindowsBase.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\PresentationCore\3.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\PresentationCore.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\PresentationFramework\3.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\PresentationFramework.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface.Presentation\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.Presentation.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface.Presentation.Generic\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.Presentation.Generic.dll'
The thread 'vshost.NotifyLoad' (0x1504) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 'vshost.LoadReference' (0x131c) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Users\Roflcoptr\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\MuReSe\MuReSe\bin\Debug\MuReSe.exe', Symbols loaded.
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Configuration\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Configuration.dll'
Step into: Stepping over method without symbols 'MuReSe.App.App'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface.Shell.ShellApi\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.Shell.ShellApi.dll'
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface.Common\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.Common.dll'
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Shell.ShellApi.dll
A first chance exception of type 'Microsoft.Surface.Common.ProcessCommunicationException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Shell.ShellApi.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Threading.WaitHandleCannotBeOpenedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
'MuReSe.vshost.exe' (Managed (v2.0.50727)): Loaded 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface.Core\1.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll'
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll
A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in Microsoft.Surface.Core.dll

The last Exception is thrown all the time until I stop the program. I already commented out all of my code, and I ran the application with nothing other than the already built in code, but the same happens.

How can I correct that? I only found this reference:

http://www.mobydisk.com/softdev/techinfo/dotnetexceptions.html

There it says:

The exception that is thrown when an unrecognized HRESULT is returned from a COM method call.

But I don't know what this means....

====EDIT====

I followed the suggestion in the answer below to debug the exception. This is the detailed report:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException occurred
  Message=Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG))
  Source=Microsoft.Surface.Shell.ShellApi
  ErrorCode=-2147221164
  StackTrace:
       at Microsoft.Surface.Shell.NativeMethods.CoCreateInstance(Guid rclsid, Object pUnkOuter, CLSCTX dwClsContext, Guid riid)
  InnerException: 

And the debuger stopped at the constructor call:

 public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            // Add handlers for Application activation events
            AddActivationHandlers();

           // AssemblyParser parser = new AssemblyParser();
            //parser.parse();

           // DirSearch(@"C:\Users\Roflcoptr\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\TestClass.dll\");
        }

I stopped right at the start of the constructor:

public MainWindow()

Fleenor

By the way, make sure all the code is referencing the same architecture. – Aragon

Answer 1

Your code (or some code called by you) is making a call to a COM method which is returning an unknown value. If you can find that then you're half way there.

You could try breaking when the exception is thrown. Go to Debug > Exceptions... and use the Find... option to locate System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException. Tick the option to break when it's thrown and then debug your application.

Hopefully it will break somewhere meaningful and you'll be able to trace back and find the source of the error.

Cannell

Ok thanks. That is really weird, since I tested this by commenting out all of my code. And nevertheless, this is happening. And another thing: I think it have to be a third party library I'm using, so how can I solve the problem if it is located there? Just catch the exception? – G

@Roflcoptr - if it is in the 3rd party code then all you can do is either catch it or leave it and leaving it isn't really an option. If you can narrow it down to a specific call, report it to the 3rd party developer. – Cannell

Thanks! I followed your suggestion and debugged my project. I'm still very curious since it's thrown in the consturctor were I dind't changed anything... – G

For VS 2015 Debug > Windows > Exception Settings (Ctrl + Alt + E) – Tiptop

Answer 2

I came across System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException while opening a project solution. Sometimes user doesn't have enough priveleges to run some COM Methods. I ran Visual Studio as Administrator and the exception was gone.

Arrear

I had he same and yes, the trick is to run VS as Administrator. Thanks for sharing, you saved me a lot of time! – Natica

What @Jean-François said but unfortunately. It took me so much time until I decided to google the error! haha. Thank you! – Phototypy

This also happen when you change your projects from .net v.3.5 to 4.5 for instance. Not that the change in itself is erronous but there might be conflicting conditions between the framework versions, regardless of starting VS as administrator or not – Knickers

Answer 3

I got this exception while coping a object(variable) Matrix Array into Excel sheet. The solution to this is, Matrix array Index(i,j) must start from (0,0) whereas Excel sheet should start with Matrix Array index (i,j) from (1,1) .

I hope you this concept.

Interdependent

Answer 4

Probably you are trying to access the excel with the index 0, please note that Excel rows/columns start from 1.

Rawalpindi

How this answer differ from the previous one by Kanna Reddy? – Monoceros

It doesn't, reason being I added a comment that there might be someone who is making similar kind of mistake. – Rawalpindi