BUG: GetCommProperties Leaks a Handle

Last reviewed: December 16, 1996
Article ID: Q139657

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK) version 3.51

SYMPTOMS

Repeated calls to GetCommProperties cause the process handle count to increase and never decrease. This can be detected by running PerfMon. This eventually causes system failures.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, don't call GetCommProperties repeatedly. Call GetCommProperties once, and then store the result for use later. If you must repeatedly call GetCommProperties, you should periodically exit the process and restart. You may want to create a separate, short-lived process to get the desired information and communicate it to the main process by using IPC methods.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug. This has been fixed with release of Windows NT version 4.0.

KBCategory: kbprg kbbuglist
KBSubcategory: BseCommapi
Additional reference words:

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Last reviewed: December 16, 1996
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