HeapSetInformation return ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER

Question

I run my application with visual studio 2008 service pack1(9.0.30729.1), windows 7 professional 64bit with 8 GB memory

My application is 32bit process and use /LARGEADDRESSAWARE option

To reduce memory fragmentation, i adjust sample code (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366705(v=vs.85).aspx)

#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define HEAP_LFH 2

int __cdecl _tmain()
{
    BOOL bResult;
    HANDLE hHeap;
    ULONG HeapInformation;

    //
    // Enable heap terminate-on-corruption. 
    // A correct application can continue to run even if this call fails, 
    // so it is safe to ignore the return value and call the function as follows:
    // (void)HeapSetInformation(NULL, HeapEnableTerminationOnCorruption, NULL, 0);
    // If the application requires heap terminate-on-corruption to be enabled, 
    // check the return value and exit on failure as shown in this example.
    //
    bResult = HeapSetInformation(NULL,
                                 HeapEnableTerminationOnCorruption,
                                 NULL,
                                 0);

    if (bResult != FALSE) {
        _tprintf(TEXT("Heap terminate-on-corruption has been enabled.\n"));
    }
    else {
        _tprintf(TEXT("Failed to enable heap terminate-on-corruption with LastError %d.\n"),
                 GetLastError());
        return 1;
    }

    //
    // Create a new heap with default parameters.
    //
    hHeap = HeapCreate(0, 0, 0);
    if (hHeap == NULL) {
        _tprintf(TEXT("Failed to create a new heap with LastError %d.\n"),
                 GetLastError());
        return 1;
    }

    //
    // Enable the low-fragmenation heap (LFH). Starting with Windows Vista, 
    // the LFH is enabled by default but this call does not cause an error.
    //
    HeapInformation = HEAP_LFH;
    bResult = HeapSetInformation(hHeap,
                                 HeapCompatibilityInformation,
                                 &HeapInformation,
                                 sizeof(HeapInformation));
    if (bResult != FALSE) {
        _tprintf(TEXT("The low-fragmentation heap has been enabled.\n"));
    }
    else {
        _tprintf(TEXT("Failed to enable the low-fragmentation heap with LastError %d.\n"),
                 GetLastError());
        return 1;
    }

    return 0;
}

bResult = HeapSetInformation(hHeap, HeapCompatibilityInformation, &HeapInformation, sizeof(HeapInformation));

bResult is false and getLastError is 87(ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER)

how to fix this?

Answer 1

The LFH also cannot be enabled if you are using the heap debugging tools in Debugging Tools for Windows or Microsoft Application Verifier.

Running the linked sample code under the VS2010 debugger produces the exact same failure for me. Running without debugging (Ctrl-F5), it succeeds as expected.

However, from the same article:

The information in this topic applies to Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. Starting with Windows Vista, the system uses the low-fragmentation heap (LFH) as needed to service memory allocation requests. Applications do not need to enable the LFH for their heaps.

So basically, the best fix is to not do it at all.

If you really, really, really, must specifically support XP/2k3 even with their end looming;

To enable the low-fragmentation heap when running under a debugger, set the _NO_DEBUG_HEAP environment variable to 1.