COMException (segmentation fault) when running HardwareCounters

[SnappyComebacks]

Hello,

I am trying hardware counters for the first time after finding this article. I have unfortunately been unable to use these counters as I run into an exception when using them. I have stripped everything back to a tiny demo and still receive the error.

I'm on Windows 11 Pro.

My dotnet --version is 8.0.412.

$ dotnet run -c Release
// Validating benchmarks:
// ***** BenchmarkRunner: Start   *****
// ***** Found 1 benchmark(s) in total *****
// ***** Building 1 exe(s) in Parallel: Start   *****
// start dotnet  restore /p:UseSharedCompilation=false /p:BuildInParallel=false /m:1 /p:Deterministic=true /p:Optimize=true /p:ArtifactsPath="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1/" /p:OutDir="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0/" /p:OutputPath="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0/" /p:PublishDir="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\publish/" in C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1
// command took 0.62 sec and exited with 0
// start dotnet  build -c Release --no-restore /p:UseSharedCompilation=false /p:BuildInParallel=false /m:1 /p:Deterministic=true /p:Optimize=true /p:ArtifactsPath="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1/" /p:OutDir="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0/" /p:OutputPath="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0/" /p:PublishDir="C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\publish/" --output "C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0/" in C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1
// command took 3.23 sec and exited with 0
// ***** Done, took 00:00:03 (3.88 sec)   *****
// Found 1 benchmarks:
//   DemoClass.Demo: DefaultJob

Setup power plan (GUID: 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c FriendlyName: High performance)
// **************************
// Benchmark: DemoClass.Demo: DefaultJob
// *** Execute ***
// Launch: 1 / 1
// Execute: dotnet Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1.dll --anonymousPipes 1764 1440 --benchmarkName DemoClass.Demo --job Default --benchmarkId 0 in C:\Users\{some-directory}\bin\Release\net8.0\Benchmarking-DefaultJob-1\bin\Release\net8.0
Unhandled exception. System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800700AA): The requested resource is in use. (0x800700AA)
   at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Int32 errorCode)
   at Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.Session.TraceEventSession.EnableKernelProvider(Keywords flags, Keywords stackCapture)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnostics.Windows.KernelSession.EnableProviders()
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnostics.Windows.EtwProfiler.Start(DiagnoserActionParameters parameters)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnostics.Windows.EtwProfiler.Handle(HostSignal signal, DiagnoserActionParameters parameters)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnosers.CompositeDiagnoser.Handle(HostSignal signal, DiagnoserActionParameters parameters)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Toolchains.DotNetCli.DotNetCliExecutor.Execute(BenchmarkCase benchmarkCase, BenchmarkId benchmarkId, ILogger logger, ArtifactsPaths artifactsPaths, IDiagnoser diagnoser, String executableName, IResolver resolver, Int32 launchIndex)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Toolchains.DotNetCli.DotNetCliExecutor.Execute(ExecuteParameters executeParameters)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunnerClean.RunExecute(ILogger logger, BenchmarkCase benchmarkCase, BenchmarkId benchmarkId, IToolchain toolchain, BuildResult buildResult, IResolver resolver, IDiagnoser diagnoser, Int32 launchIndex)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunnerClean.Execute(ILogger logger, BenchmarkCase benchmarkCase, BenchmarkId benchmarkId, IToolchain toolchain, BuildResult buildResult, IResolver resolver)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunnerClean.RunCore(BenchmarkCase benchmarkCase, BenchmarkId benchmarkId, ILogger logger, IResolver resolver, BuildResult buildResult)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunnerClean.Run(BenchmarkRunInfo benchmarkRunInfo, Dictionary`2 buildResults, IResolver resolver, ILogger logger, EventProcessor eventProcessor, List`1 artifactsToCleanup, String resultsFolderPath, String logFilePath, Int32 totalBenchmarkCount, StartedClock& runsChronometer, Int32& benchmarksToRunCount, TaskbarProgress taskbarProgress)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunnerClean.Run(BenchmarkRunInfo[] benchmarkRunInfos)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunner.RunWithDirtyAssemblyResolveHelper(Type type, IConfig config, String[] args)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunner.<>c__DisplayClass0_0`1.<Run>b__0()
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunner.RunWithExceptionHandling(Func`1 run)
   at BenchmarkDotNet.Running.BenchmarkRunner.Run[T](IConfig config, String[] args)
   at Program.<Main>$(String[] args) in C:\Users\{some-directory}\Program.cs:line 5
Successfully reverted power plan (GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e FriendlyName: Balanced)
// * Artifacts cleanup *
Artifacts cleanup is finished
Segmentation fault

Here is my program.

using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnosers;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Running;

var summary = BenchmarkRunner.Run<DemoClass>();
Console.WriteLine(summary);

[MemoryDiagnoser]
[HardwareCounters(HardwareCounter.BranchMispredictions, HardwareCounter.BranchInstructions)]
public class DemoClass
{
    [Benchmark]
    public int Demo() => 1 + 2;
}

And here is my csproj.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="../{ProgramName}.csproj" />
    <PackageReference Include="BenchmarkDotNet" Version="0.15.2" />
    <PackageReference Include="BenchmarkDotNet.Diagnostics.Windows" Version="0.15.2" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

[filzrev]

Unhandled exception. System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800700AA): The requested resource is in use. (0x800700AA) at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Int32 errorCode) at Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.Session.TraceEventSession.EnableKernelProvider(Keywords flags, Keywords stackCapture)

It seems to be caused by Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.TraceEvent / Windows OS side. Same error is reported on following issues.

• https://github.com/dotnet/BenchmarkDotNet/issues/2139
• https://github.com/dotnet/BenchmarkDotNet/issues/2537