IE8 Beta1 breaks WPF 3.5? (under Vista, maybe XP)

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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: 9.0.6001.17184


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 something like this:

<font color="#0000ff" size=2><font color="#0000ff" size=2>


***
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