How long will a C# lock wait, and what if the code crashes during the lock?

I saw the following code, and wanted to use it for a simple activity which may only be executed one at a time, and won't occur frequently (so the chance of occurring twice at a time is very small, but you never know).

So the code:

// class variable
private static object syncRoot = new object();

// in a method:
lock (syncRoot)
{
    DoIt();
}

When another thread comes by and wants to execute the code, how long will it wait until the lock is released? Forever, or can you somehow set a timeout?

And second: if the DoIt() method throws an exception, is the lock still released?