Error: "The target process aborted before activation completed"

Question

Error: "The target process aborted before activation completed"

Hong 1,286

An old, simple UWP app has been in the store for a number of years.

I updated some NuGet packages used by the app and a library referenced by the app today.

The debug version still runs flawlessly exactly as before, but the release (i.e., .Net Native) version crashes as soon as the splash screen shows.

User's image

To help debug this, I have emptied App() and onLaunch:

        public App()
        {
        }
        protected override async void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs e)
        {
        }

The debug version still works. It just stops at the splash screen.

The release version still has the same problem. The debug output window shows nothing. I have enabled native debug.

Could anyone offer a tip on how to debug this

Starry Night 25 Reputation points

2025-07-31T07:22:23.95+00:00

I encountered similar problems before, and it worked fine after I switched to another computer. You can also try testing it on another computer.
Harry Vo (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 405 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-07-31T08:27:20.65+00:00

Thanks @Starry Night for your sharing! Since it works on another machine, I think the issue is from the previous cache, mismatched build artifact or old installation.

So, @Hong, if his solution works, it's worth try a to fully uninstall any old version of your app, clean and freshly rebuild your project to make sure that nothing left behind! I hope it will solve your issue!
Hong 1,286 Reputation points

2025-08-04T13:47:48.2833333+00:00

Thank you all for the help.

The crash was caused by the update of the NuGet package SkiaSharp. I have to revert NuGet updates one by one to figure out that it was SkiaSharp. It took me a day to figure out this because I was determined to find a clue by chasing all kinds of traces without reverting NuGet package changes, and I gave up eventually.

It is frustrating that I do not get notification emails for responses to my posts here. I have to check my posts periodically manually to see them.

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Starry Night 25 Reputation points

2025-07-31T07:22:23.95+00:00

I encountered similar problems before, and it worked fine after I switched to another computer. You can also try testing it on another computer.
Harry Vo (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 405 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-07-31T08:27:20.65+00:00

Thanks @Starry Night for your sharing! Since it works on another machine, I think the issue is from the previous cache, mismatched build artifact or old installation.

So, @Hong, if his solution works, it's worth try a to fully uninstall any old version of your app, clean and freshly rebuild your project to make sure that nothing left behind! I hope it will solve your issue!
Hong 1,286 Reputation points

2025-08-04T13:47:48.2833333+00:00

Thank you all for the help.

The crash was caused by the update of the NuGet package SkiaSharp. I have to revert NuGet updates one by one to figure out that it was SkiaSharp. It took me a day to figure out this because I was determined to find a clue by chasing all kinds of traces without reverting NuGet package changes, and I gave up eventually.

It is frustrating that I do not get notification emails for responses to my posts here. I have to check my posts periodically manually to see them.

Answer 1

Hi @Hong , thank you for your update! I'm glad you finally identified the cause of the issue.

After some research, I found that the stable version of SkiaSharp for UWP is below 3.0, as newer versions have commonly been reported to cause errors. I highly recommend using an older version of SkiaSharp for better compatibility (2.88.9).

It is because the recent versions of SkiaSharp shifted its focus toward platforms like .NET 6+, WinUI 3 and MAUI. You can also read here for more information!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thank you!

Answer 2

Hi @Hong

My name is Harry, Support Engineer who specialize in UWP (Universal Windows Platform). Thank you for reaching out on Microsoft Q&A!

Here is some of actions you can try to detect a possible cause for this issue:

Use WER (Windows Error Reporting) to get crash dumps. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run these commands
```
   reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /v DumpType /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
   reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /v DumpCount /t REG_DWORD /d 10 /f
   reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps" /v DumpFolder /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Dumps" /f
```
These commands will enable WER, make it captures unhandled crashes in Windows applications and saves a .dmp crash file to help you debug the exact cause.
Explanation:
DumpType = 2 → Full dump (recommended for debugging).
DumpCount = 10 → Keeps up to 10 recent dumps.
DumpFolder = C:\Dumps → Folder where dumps are saved.
After that, you can rebuild and run your app (Release mode) to reproduce the crash, then check C:\Dumps — a .dmp file should appear. You can open it with Visual Studio to detect the problem.
Temporarily disable .NET Native Toolchain. Debug builds use CoreCLR (JIT), but Release builds use .NET Native (AOT). If your app works after disabled .NET Native, we can make sure that your issue is caused by AOT compilation. You can do it by add this line in .csproj of your project:
```
   <UseDotNetNativeToolchain>false</UseDotNetNativeToolchain>
```

Finally, please check these NuGet packages you have updated. It's possible that some of them may require a newer .NET version than your app targets or even use APIs or features that do not exist in your app's target framework!

I hope this helps you get things back on track quickly! If my suggestions can solve your issue, feel free to interact with the system accordingly!Thank you!

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Error: "The target process aborted before activation completed"

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