How to make C# application crash

Question

I want to test if my application crash dump can be debugged. But firstly, I need to generate a crash dump of my application. I'm using C# to code my app, and have tried with many exceptions and unsafe code etc. but don't get it.

Thanks!

Edit: Sorry, Just forgot something, I'm making the application with Unity3D, which handles exceptions for me automatically.

Edit 2: Thanks all for your answers. I've tested your suggestions in a standard C# application and it all works fine, but not in my Unity3D application (written with C#). It seems like Unity3D requires more effort to cause a crash, I might email Unity3D to get a answer. I will post here if I get it. Cheers!

A crash simply occurs when an unmanaged exception is thrown at runtime. There's nothing magic behind it. Maybe the problem is that your code isn't working correctly, and that's why you're not having any log. — KappaG3, Aug 01 '13 at 14:25
Perhaps this will help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1134048/generating-net-crash-dumps-automatically — Moo-Juice, Aug 01 '13 at 14:41

score 23 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 01 '13 at 14:25

23

The following will provide an unhandled exception and will ask for you to choose a debugger:

System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch()

answered Aug 01 '13 at 14:25

Giannis Paraskevopoulos

18,261
1
49
69

1

Although the question was a silly one but this answer definitely was the opposite, +1. – Ibrahim Najjar Aug 01 '13 at 14:36
sorry, I try, but get "NotImplementedException: The requested feature is not implemented" – fieldChao Aug 01 '13 at 16:49
1

Since you say you are developing in Unity3D, this might not be an option, sorry... – Giannis Paraskevopoulos Aug 01 '13 at 19:42

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 18 '15 at 11:22

17

StackOverflowException is a badass:

void PerformOverflow()
{
  PerformOverflow();
}

Usage:

PerformOverflow();

answered Jun 18 '15 at 11:22

Ondrej Svejdar

21,349
5
54
89

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 01 '13 at 14:26

11

Throw an exception :)

throw new Exception("Your exception here!");

edited Aug 01 '13 at 14:26

Soner Gönül

97,193
102
206
364

answered Aug 01 '13 at 14:26

sickUnit

319
2
5

sorry,I have try throwing an exception, but that doesn't crash my application. – fieldChao Aug 01 '13 at 16:33
1

sorry, I lost something: I use Unity3d, and it handles all exceptions, just show me the exceptions in the output file. thanks – fieldChao Aug 01 '13 at 16:38
1

This is not a CRASH. A crash can only occur from native code that crashes, or calls into RaiseException Win32 API. – Петър Петров Jun 12 '18 at 14:20

sonnyb · Answer 4 · 2019-08-19T20:56:56.143

For C# in Unity3D

There is UnityEngine.Diagnostics.Utils.ForceCrash (in Unity 2018.3)

This can be used with one of the following ForcedCrashCategory enum parameter:

AccessViolation

Cause a crash by performing an invalid memory access.The invalid memory access is performed on each platform as follows:

FatalError

Cause a crash using Unity's native fatal error implementation.

Abort

Cause a crash by calling the abort() function.

PureVirtualFunction

Cause a crash by calling a pure virtual function to raise an exception.

For older versions of Unity:

UnityEngine.Application.ForceCrash(int mode)

For even older versions (Unity 5):

UnityEngine.Application.CommitSuicide(int mode)

From my experience, mode 0 causes a "unity handled" crash (where the Unity crash dialog appears), and mode 2 causes a "hard" crash where the Windows error dialog appears.

This seems consistent with this post by Smilediver on mode:

0 - will simulate crash, 1 - will simulate a fatal error that Unity has caught, 2 - will call abort().

(These methods are not documented as they were intended for Unity's internal use. They may also be marked [Obsolete] depending on your Unity version.)

Петър Петров · Answer 5 · 2016-08-30T14:29:04.840

8

Well. The only good 100% way actualy crash CLR is to inject a native exception into the managed world.

Calling the Kernel32.dll's RaiseException() directly will immediately crash ANY C# application, and Unity Editor as well.

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern void RaiseException(uint dwExceptionCode, uint dwExceptionFlags,  uint nNumberOfArguments, IntPtr lpArguments);

void start()
{
    RaiseException(13, 0, 0, new IntPtr(1));
}

Happy crashing. Please note that in order to debug native and managed, you will need two instances of Visual Studio running. If you are developing native P/INVOKE plugin, set up it that Visual Studio Instance 1 is native debugger and uses Unity or your C# program as a Host program, and you attach to the Host program from another Visual Studio Instance.

edited Aug 30 '16 at 14:29

answered Aug 22 '16 at 22:12

Петър Петров

1,966
1
17
14

you do not need to SCREAM any time you want to highlight stuff. Use italic or bold works better... Just saying because it is annoying to see you scream even in comments... – WarrenFaith Aug 23 '16 at 07:51
2

It's an old habit like in when you always work with legalese to highlight stuff and important sentences, you use caps-lock... – Петър Петров Aug 30 '16 at 14:30
1

Thanks, this worked perfectly for me. The code generates a Unity-managed application crash. – Andreas Grech Aug 13 '17 at 22:29

score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 16 '19 at 07:52

7

Another option is to call

System.Environment.FailFast("Error happened")

answered Oct 16 '19 at 07:52

max630

8,762
3
30
55

Worked and has the benefit of being the intended method provided by system library. – Tomáš Zato Feb 20 '20 at 15:51
Worked for testing crashing an ASP.NET Core application as well (most of the higher rated options didn't seem to do the trick) - thanks! – olucafont6 Sep 28 '20 at 20:27
1

This will put exception details in the Event Log, possibly being reported to Microsoft via Windows Error Reporting (WER). Maybe desired, maybe not. – l33t Dec 08 '21 at 08:56

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 14:16

6

A surefire way to do it is as follows:

ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(ignored => 
{
   throw new Exception();
}));

All the others can be handled by the top level ApplicationDomain.OnUnhandledException and the like.

This one will kill it dead (assuming .NET 2.0+, and not using 'legacyUnhandledExceptionPolicy': http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms228965.aspx).

answered Aug 02 '13 at 14:16

Mark Sowul

10,244
1
45
51

It seems unity3d application ignore the exception directly(not handle it like others), and has no any feedback. – fieldChao Aug 03 '13 at 04:12
If you want even less code... ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(ignored => throw new Exception()); – TravisWhidden Jan 03 '19 at 23:47
1

Even less `ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(_ => throw new Exception());` – Vlad Aug 14 '19 at 18:36
Note that Unity3d will log this exception as long as `UnityEngineApplication.logMessageReceivedThreaded` is used (rather than `logMessageReceived`) – sonnyb Aug 16 '19 at 16:26

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 15 '16 at 08:48

0

None of the answers crashed my app the way I was looking for. So here is the approach that worked for me.

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        object p = 0;
        IntPtr pnt = (IntPtr)0x123456789;
        Marshal.StructureToPtr(p, pnt, false);
    }

answered Mar 15 '16 at 08:48

Luzius

164
2
10

1

Crash is not guaranteed using this. – Петър Петров Aug 22 '16 at 22:06

LuckyMN Z · Answer 9 · 2016-03-16T00:58:09.997

0

  public void Loop()
  {
      Loop();
  }
  //call this
  Loop();

edited Mar 16 '16 at 00:58

answered Mar 15 '16 at 09:11

LuckyMN Z

104
6

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited May 10 '21 at 13:22

0

I think there was a code in earlier unity versions like

Application.commitSuicide(number Input);

Now it is replaced by

Application.ForceCrash(number input);

Till this point, I dont know what different numbers do in number input, but for me,

Application.ForceCrash(1);

does the job.

edited May 10 '21 at 13:22

juagicre

1,065
30
42

answered May 09 '21 at 16:31

PMT_CODER

1
1

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 23 '21 at 20:12

0

you could also divide by zero,

z = 0; 
int divide = 1 / x;

answered Aug 23 '21 at 20:12

Mana

1,925
6
39
55

score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Aug 01 '13 at 14:28

-1

 int[] x = {0};
 int blah = x[2];

will cause an exception just as well

answered Aug 01 '13 at 14:28

No Idea For Name

11,411
10
42
70

sorry,I have try throwing an exception, but that doesn't crash my application – fieldChao Aug 01 '13 at 16:34
sorry, I lost something: I use Unity3d, and it handles all exceptions, just show me the exceptions in the output file. thanks – fieldChao Aug 01 '13 at 16:39

score -1 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 07 '19 at 12:59

-1

It's easy enough to reproduce if you try to transform a null game object. For example, like this:

public static GameObject gameObjectCrash;
public void GenerateCrash()
{
    gameObjectCrash.transform.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(90, 0, 0);
}

answered Mar 07 '19 at 12:59

Dmytro Turkov

880
9
12

score -3 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 27 '15 at 06:51

-3

Use below code to close the application.

Environment.Exit(1);

Exit needs a parameter called exitcode. If exitcode=0 means there was no error. Supply a non-zero exit code to to reflect an error.

answered Feb 27 '15 at 06:51

Ashish Sahu

185
1
6

1

This is CLOSING, not a Crash – Петър Петров Aug 22 '16 at 22:06

How to make C# application crash

14 Answers14

Linked