What is a good pattern for using a Global Mutex in C#?

Question

The Mutex class is very misunderstood, and Global mutexes even more so.

What is good, safe pattern to use when creating Global mutexes?

One that will work

Answer 1

This example will exit after 5 seconds if another instance is already running.

// unique id for global mutex - Global prefix means it is global to the machine
const string mutex_id = "Global\\{B1E7934A-F688-417f-8FCB-65C3985E9E27}";

static void Main(string[] args)
{

    using (var mutex = new Mutex(false, mutex_id))
    {
        try
        {
            try
            {
                if (!mutex.WaitOne(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5), false))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Another instance of this program is running");
                    Environment.Exit(0);
                }
            }
            catch (AbandonedMutexException)
            {
                // Log the fact the mutex was abandoned in another process, it will still get aquired
            }

            // Perform your work here.
        }
        finally
        {
            mutex.ReleaseMutex();
        }
    }
}