How do I restart my C# WinForm Application?

Question

Developing a C# .NET 2.0 WinForm Application. Need the application to close and restart itself.

Application.Restart(); 

The above method has proven to be unreliable.

What is a better way to restart the application?

Answer 1

A much simpler approach that worked for me is:

Application.Restart(); Environment.Exit(0); 

This preserves the command-line arguments and works despite event handlers that would normally prevent the application from closing.

The Restart() call tries to exit, starts a new instance anyway and returns. The Exit() call then terminates the process without giving any event handlers a chance to run. There is a very brief period in which both processes are running, which is not a problem in my case, but maybe in other cases.

The exit code 0 in Environment.Exit(0); specifies a clean shutdown. You can also exit with 1 to specify an error occurred.