IE8 Beta1 breaks WPF 3.5 (Vista & XP)

After installing IE8 Beta 1, WPF can no longer display images that have a web URI.

I un-installed IE8, it fixed the problem, re-installed it and the problem showed up again.

Here is a test program that illustrates the problem:

        private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                BitmapImage bitmap = new BitmapImage();
                bitmap.BeginInit();
                bitmap.UriSource = new Uri(
                    "http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/gallery/logos/web/mslogo-1.jpg",
                    UriKind.Absolute);
                bitmap.EndInit();

                Image img = new Image();
                img.Source = bitmap;
                grid.Children.Add(img);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(string.Format("{0}\r\n\r\n{1}", ex.Message, ex.StackTrace));
            }
        }



Here are some details on the exception that is thrown at bitmap.EndInit():

ex.Message
Value does not fall within the expected rage.

ex.StackTrace
at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)

at MS.Win32.WinInet.get_InternetCacheFolder()

at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDownload.BeginDownload(
   BitmapDecoder decoder, Uri uri, RequestCachePolicy uriCachePolicy, Stream stream)

at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.LateBoundBitmapDecoder..ctor(
   Uri baseUri, Uri uri, Stream stream, BitmapCreateOptions createOptions,
   BitmapCacheOption cacheOption, RequestCachePolicy requestCachePolicy)

at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.CreateFromUriOrStream(
   Uri baseUri, Uri uri, Stream stream, BitmapCreateOptions createOptions,
   BitmapCacheOption cacheOption, RequestCachePolicy uriCachePolicy,
   Boolean insertInDecoderCache)

at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage.FinalizeCreation()

at System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage.EndInit()

at WpfApplication5.Window1.Window_Loaded(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)



Here are a few "high level" things I tried to do to fix the problem:
- Changing the UriCachePolicy of the BitmapImage: none of the RequestCacheLevel enumeration values was able to fix the problem.
- Deleting the IE Cache: no luck here
- Running the test Program as Admin: no luck either


The next thing I did was setting up the .NET Framework Source Code Debugging (link):

I stepped into the code from the bitmap.EndInit() call to the MS.Win32.WinInet.get_InternetCacheFolder() call, I found that the problem occurs in the native calls to GetUrlCacheConfigInfo, which is located in wininet.dll. This DLL fails to return the internet cache folder properly.


    internal static Uri InternetCacheFolder
    {
        [SecurityCritical]
        get
        {
            // copied value 260 from orginal implementation in BitmapDownload.cs
            const int maxPathSize = 260;
            const UInt32 fieldControl = (UInt32)maxPathSize;
 
            NativeMethods.InternetCacheConfigInfo icci =
                new NativeMethods.InternetCacheConfigInfo();

            icci.CachePath = new string(new char[maxPathSize]);
            UInt32 size = (UInt32)Marshal.SizeOf(icci);
            bool passed = UnsafeNativeMethods.GetUrlCacheConfigInfo(
                ref icci,
                ref size,
                fieldControl);

            if (!passed)
            {
                int hr = Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error();

                if (hr != 0)
                {
                    Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(hr);
                }
            }

            return new Uri(icci.CachePath);
        }
    }


I checked the version number of this DLL, and it matches IE8 Beta1's version number: 8.0.6001.17184


Now that I know the problem is not in WPF itself, I would like to know if XP users are having the same problem. You could simply create a simple wpf program like my test program, or xaml like this:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication5.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
    <Grid Name="grid">
        <Image Source="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/gallery/logos/web/mslogo-1.jpg"/>
    </Grid>
</Window>