Taking memory dump using C#

You could use ProcDump from Sysinternals and make your C# program call it when needed.

Process.Start("procdump " + otherProgramPID.ToString());

Microsofts MSDN lists a code example on how to achieve this using C# code within your own application:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;

// !load \\ddelementary\autowatson\vsdbg\vsdbg.dll

namespace CreateMiniDump
{
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.Loaded += (ol, el) =>
            {
                IntPtr hFile = IntPtr.Zero;
                try
                {
                    if (IntPtr.Size == 4)
                    {
                        this.Title = "CreateMiniDump Running as 32 bit, creating 32 bit dumps";
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        this.Title = "CreateMiniDump Running as 64 bit, creating 64 bit dumps";
                    }
                    this.Height = 800;
                    this.Width = 800;
                    var sp = new StackPanel() { Orientation = Orientation.Vertical };
                    this.Content = sp;
                    var dumpFileName = System.IO.Path.Combine(
                              System.IO.Path.GetTempPath(),
                              "testdump.dmp");
                    var txtDumpFile = new TextBox()
                    {
                        Text = dumpFileName
                    };
                    sp.Children.Add(txtDumpFile);

                    var txtProcName = new TextBox()
                    {
                        ToolTip = "Process name without extension",
                        Text = "devenv"
                    };
                    sp.Children.Add(txtProcName);
                    var lstDumpType = new ListBox()
                    {
                        // allow multi select
                        SelectionMode = SelectionMode.Extended
                    };
                    lstDumpType.ItemsSource = Enum.GetValues(typeof(NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE));
                    // set initial value
                    // for a dump with memory info we want these:
                    foreach (var val in new[] {
                  NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE.MiniDumpWithFullMemory,
                  NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE.MiniDumpWithFullMemoryInfo,
                  NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE.MiniDumpWithHandleData,
                  NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE.MiniDumpWithThreadInfo
            })
                    {
                        var nval = (int)(Math.Log((int)val) / Math.Log(2)) + 1;
                        lstDumpType.SelectedItems.Add(
                                  lstDumpType.Items[nval]
                          );
                    }
                    sp.Children.Add(lstDumpType);

                    var btnGo = new Button()
                    {
                        Content = "_Create Dump",
                        Width = 200
                    };
                    sp.Children.Add(btnGo);
                    var txtStatus = new TextBox()
                    {
                        IsUndoEnabled = false,
                        VerticalScrollBarVisibility = ScrollBarVisibility.Auto,
                        MaxHeight = 400
                    };
                    sp.Children.Add(txtStatus);
                    btnGo.Click += (ob, eb) =>
                      {
                          try
                          {
                              var sw = new Stopwatch();
                              sw.Start();
                              dumpFileName = txtDumpFile.Text.Trim();
                              if (System.IO.File.Exists(dumpFileName))
                              {
                                  System.IO.File.Delete(dumpFileName);
                              }
                              hFile = NativeMethods.CreateFile(
                                dumpFileName,
                                NativeMethods.EFileAccess.GenericWrite,
                                NativeMethods.EFileShare.None,
                                lpSecurityAttributes: IntPtr.Zero,
                                dwCreationDisposition: NativeMethods.ECreationDisposition.CreateAlways,
                                dwFlagsAndAttributes: NativeMethods.EFileAttributes.Normal,
                                hTemplateFile: IntPtr.Zero
                              );
                              if (hFile == NativeMethods.INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
                              {
                                  var hr = Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error();
                                  var ex = Marshal.GetExceptionForHR(hr);
                                  throw ex;
                              }
                              NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE dumpType = NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE.MiniDumpNormal; // 0
                              foreach (var item in lstDumpType.SelectedItems)
                              {
                                  var dt = (NativeMethods._MINIDUMP_TYPE)item;
                                  dumpType |= dt;
                              }

                              var exceptInfo = new NativeMethods.MINIDUMP_EXCEPTION_INFORMATION();
                              var proc = Process.GetProcessesByName(
                                  txtProcName.Text.Trim()
                                  ).FirstOrDefault();

                              if (!proc.Is32BitProcess() && IntPtr.Size == 4)
                              {
                                  throw new InvalidOperationException(
                                    "Can't create 32 bit dump of 64 bit process"
                                    );
                              }

                              var result = NativeMethods.MiniDumpWriteDump(
                                        proc.Handle,
                                        proc.Id,
                                        hFile,
                                        dumpType,
                                        ref exceptInfo,
                                        UserStreamParam: IntPtr.Zero,
                                        CallbackParam: IntPtr.Zero
                                        );
                              if (result == false)
                              {
                                  var hr = Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error();
                                  var ex = Marshal.GetExceptionForHR(hr);
                                  throw ex;
                              }

                              txtStatus.Text = string.Format(
                                        "Dump Created. Pid= {0} {1}\r File size = {2:n0}\rElapsed = {3:n3}\r",
                                        proc.Id,
                                        dumpType,
                                        (new System.IO.FileInfo(dumpFileName)).Length,
                                        sw.Elapsed.TotalSeconds
                                        );
                          }
                          catch (Exception ex)
                          {
                              txtStatus.Text = ex.ToString();
                          }
                          finally
                          {
                              NativeMethods.CloseHandle(hFile);
                          }
                      };
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    this.Content = ex.ToString();
                }
            };
        }
    }
    public static class ExtensionMethods
    {
        public static bool Is32BitProcess(this Process proc)
        {
            bool fIs32bit = false;
            // if we're runing on 32bit, default to true
            if (IntPtr.Size == 4)
            {
                fIs32bit = true;
            }
            bool fIsRunningUnderWow64 = false;
            // if machine is 32 bit then all procs are 32 bit
            if (NativeMethods.IsWow64Process(NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess(), out fIsRunningUnderWow64)
                && fIsRunningUnderWow64)
            {
                // current OS is 64 bit
                if (NativeMethods.IsWow64Process(proc.Handle, out fIsRunningUnderWow64)
                      && fIsRunningUnderWow64)
                {
                    fIs32bit = true;
                }
                else
                {
                    fIs32bit = false;
                }
            }
            return fIs32bit;
        }
    }
    public static partial class NativeMethods
    {
        [DllImport("Dbghelp.dll")]
        public static extern bool MiniDumpWriteDump(
            IntPtr hProcess,
            int ProcessId,
            IntPtr hFile,
            _MINIDUMP_TYPE DumpType,
            ref MINIDUMP_EXCEPTION_INFORMATION ExceptionParam,
            IntPtr UserStreamParam,
            IntPtr CallbackParam
            );
        //https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680519%28v=vs.85%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
        [Flags]
        public enum _MINIDUMP_TYPE
        {
            MiniDumpNormal = 0x00000000,
            MiniDumpWithDataSegs = 0x00000001,
            MiniDumpWithFullMemory = 0x00000002,
            MiniDumpWithHandleData = 0x00000004,
            MiniDumpFilterMemory = 0x00000008,
            MiniDumpScanMemory = 0x00000010,
            MiniDumpWithUnloadedModules = 0x00000020,
            MiniDumpWithIndirectlyReferencedMemory = 0x00000040,
            MiniDumpFilterModulePaths = 0x00000080,
            MiniDumpWithProcessThreadData = 0x00000100,
            MiniDumpWithPrivateReadWriteMemory = 0x00000200,
            MiniDumpWithoutOptionalData = 0x00000400,
            MiniDumpWithFullMemoryInfo = 0x00000800,
            MiniDumpWithThreadInfo = 0x00001000,
            MiniDumpWithCodeSegs = 0x00002000,
            MiniDumpWithoutAuxiliaryState = 0x00004000,
            MiniDumpWithFullAuxiliaryState = 0x00008000,
            MiniDumpWithPrivateWriteCopyMemory = 0x00010000,
            MiniDumpIgnoreInaccessibleMemory = 0x00020000,
            MiniDumpWithTokenInformation = 0x00040000,
            MiniDumpWithModuleHeaders = 0x00080000,
            MiniDumpFilterTriage = 0x00100000,
            MiniDumpValidTypeFlags = 0x001fffff,
        };
        /*
         * 
    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb513622(v=vs.85).aspx
    WER_DUMP_TYPE:
    WerDumpTypeHeapDump
        MiniDumpWithDataSegs
        MiniDumpWithProcessThreadData
        MiniDumpWithHandleData
        MiniDumpWithPrivateReadWriteMemory
        MiniDumpWithUnloadedModules
        MiniDumpWithFullMemoryInfo
        MiniDumpWithThreadInfo (Windows 7 and later)
        MiniDumpWithTokenInformation (Windows 7 and later)
        MiniDumpWithPrivateWriteCopyMemory 
    WerDumpTypeMicroDump
        MiniDumpWithDataSegs
        MiniDumpWithUnloadedModules
        MiniDumpWithProcessThreadData
        MiniDumpWithoutOptionalData

    WerDumpTypeMiniDump
        MiniDumpWithDataSegs
        MiniDumpWithUnloadedModules
        MiniDumpWithProcessThreadData
        MiniDumpWithTokenInformation 
         */

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 4)]
        public struct MINIDUMP_EXCEPTION_INFORMATION
        {
            public uint ThreadId;
            public IntPtr ExceptionPointers;
            public int ClientPointers;
        }

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll",
          SetLastError = true,
          CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        public static extern IntPtr CreateFile(
                string lpFileName,
                EFileAccess dwDesiredAccess,
                EFileShare dwShareMode,
                IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes,
                ECreationDisposition dwCreationDisposition,
                EFileAttributes dwFlagsAndAttributes,
                IntPtr hTemplateFile
            );

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll",
          SetLastError = true)]
        [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
        public static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr hObject);

        public static IntPtr INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = new IntPtr(-1);
        [Flags]
        public enum EFileAccess : uint
        {
            //
            // Standart Section
            //

            AccessSystemSecurity = 0x1000000,   // AccessSystemAcl access type
            MaximumAllowed = 0x2000000,     // MaximumAllowed access type

            Delete = 0x10000,
            ReadControl = 0x20000,
            WriteDAC = 0x40000,
            WriteOwner = 0x80000,
            Synchronize = 0x100000,

            StandardRightsRequired = 0xF0000,
            StandardRightsRead = ReadControl,
            StandardRightsWrite = ReadControl,
            StandardRightsExecute = ReadControl,
            StandardRightsAll = 0x1F0000,
            SpecificRightsAll = 0xFFFF,

            FILE_READ_DATA = 0x0001,        // file & pipe
            FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY = 0x0001,       // directory
            FILE_WRITE_DATA = 0x0002,       // file & pipe
            FILE_ADD_FILE = 0x0002,         // directory
            FILE_APPEND_DATA = 0x0004,      // file
            FILE_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY = 0x0004,     // directory
            FILE_CREATE_PIPE_INSTANCE = 0x0004, // named pipe
            FILE_READ_EA = 0x0008,          // file & directory
            FILE_WRITE_EA = 0x0010,         // file & directory
            FILE_EXECUTE = 0x0020,          // file
            FILE_TRAVERSE = 0x0020,         // directory
            FILE_DELETE_CHILD = 0x0040,     // directory
            FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES = 0x0080,      // all
            FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES = 0x0100,     // all

            //
            // Generic Section
            //

            GenericRead = 0x80000000,
            GenericWrite = 0x40000000,
            GenericExecute = 0x20000000,
            GenericAll = 0x10000000,

            SPECIFIC_RIGHTS_ALL = 0x00FFFF,
            FILE_ALL_ACCESS =
            StandardRightsRequired |
            Synchronize |
            0x1FF,

            FILE_GENERIC_READ =
            StandardRightsRead |
            FILE_READ_DATA |
            FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES |
            FILE_READ_EA |
            Synchronize,

            FILE_GENERIC_WRITE =
            StandardRightsWrite |
            FILE_WRITE_DATA |
            FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES |
            FILE_WRITE_EA |
            FILE_APPEND_DATA |
            Synchronize,

            FILE_GENERIC_EXECUTE =
            StandardRightsExecute |
              FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES |
              FILE_EXECUTE |
              Synchronize
        }

        [Flags]
        public enum EFileShare : uint
        {
            /// <summary>
            /// 
            /// </summary>
            None = 0x00000000,
            /// <summary>
            /// Enables subsequent open operations on an object to request read access. 
            /// Otherwise, other processes cannot open the object if they request read access. 
            /// If this flag is not specified, but the object has been opened for read access, the function fails.
            /// </summary>
            Read = 0x00000001,
            /// <summary>
            /// Enables subsequent open operations on an object to request write access. 
            /// Otherwise, other processes cannot open the object if they request write access. 
            /// If this flag is not specified, but the object has been opened for write access, the function fails.
            /// </summary>
            Write = 0x00000002,
            /// <summary>
            /// Enables subsequent open operations on an object to request delete access. 
            /// Otherwise, other processes cannot open the object if they request delete access.
            /// If this flag is not specified, but the object has been opened for delete access, the function fails.
            /// </summary>
            Delete = 0x00000004
        }

        public enum ECreationDisposition : uint
        {
            /// <summary>
            /// Creates a new file. The function fails if a specified file exists.
            /// </summary>
            New = 1,
            /// <summary>
            /// Creates a new file, always. 
            /// If a file exists, the function overwrites the file, clears the existing attributes, combines the specified file attributes, 
            /// and flags with FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE, but does not set the security descriptor that the SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure specifies.
            /// </summary>
            CreateAlways = 2,
            /// <summary>
            /// Opens a file. The function fails if the file does not exist. 
            /// </summary>
            OpenExisting = 3,
            /// <summary>
            /// Opens a file, always. 
            /// If a file does not exist, the function creates a file as if dwCreationDisposition is CREATE_NEW.
            /// </summary>
            OpenAlways = 4,
            /// <summary>
            /// Opens a file and truncates it so that its size is 0 (zero) bytes. The function fails if the file does not exist.
            /// The calling process must open the file with the GENERIC_WRITE access right. 
            /// </summary>
            TruncateExisting = 5
        }

        [Flags]
        public enum EFileAttributes : uint
        {
            Readonly = 0x00000001,
            Hidden = 0x00000002,
            System = 0x00000004,
            Directory = 0x00000010,
            Archive = 0x00000020,
            Device = 0x00000040,
            Normal = 0x00000080,
            Temporary = 0x00000100,
            SparseFile = 0x00000200,
            ReparsePoint = 0x00000400,
            Compressed = 0x00000800,
            Offline = 0x00001000,
            NotContentIndexed = 0x00002000,
            Encrypted = 0x00004000,
            Write_Through = 0x80000000,
            Overlapped = 0x40000000,
            NoBuffering = 0x20000000,
            RandomAccess = 0x10000000,
            SequentialScan = 0x08000000,
            DeleteOnClose = 0x04000000,
            BackupSemantics = 0x02000000,
            PosixSemantics = 0x01000000,
            OpenReparsePoint = 0x00200000,
            OpenNoRecall = 0x00100000,
            FirstPipeInstance = 0x00080000
        }


        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Winapi)]
        [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
        public static extern bool IsWow64Process(
              [In] IntPtr hProcess,
              [Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] out bool wow64Process
              );
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
    }
}

You can try calling the C++ method from your C# code. Here's an example of how you would declare it:

    [DllImport("dbghelp.dll",
        EntryPoint = "MiniDumpWriteDump",
        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall,
        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,
        ExactSpelling = true,
        SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    public static extern bool MiniDumpWriteDump(
        IntPtr hProcess,
        uint processId,
        SafeHandle hFile,
        MINIDUMP_TYPE dumpType,
        IntPtr expParam,
        IntPtr userStreamParam,
        IntPtr callbackParam);

You can check out the code of this project for an example: https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/blob/master/Kudu.Core/Infrastructure/MiniDumpNativeMethods.cs https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/blob/2db563be679bb60656050ec3f04945086f07b360/Kudu.Core/Infrastructure/ProcessExtensions.cs

Tags:

C#

Memory Dump