PRB: A Process Can Map 64 (or Less) Statically-linked CRT DLLs

• Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), used with:
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Windows 2000

SYMPTOMS

An attempt to load a statically-linked CRT-dependent DLL when all 64 of the TLS slots are already in use fails with the following error code:

1114 -- ERROR_DLL_INIT_FAILED.

CAUSE

The CRT library makes use of thread-local storage (TLS). Each time a statically-linked CRT-dependent DLL is mapped into a process, the CRT is initialized. During this initialization, a TLS slot is allocated. There are only TLS_MINIMUM_AVAILABLE slots available to each process. This constant is guaranteed to be at least 64 on all Win32 platforms.

RESOLUTION

If you have code-control over the DLLs, dynamically link them with the CRT library. This provides access to all of the CRT functions, without building them directly into the executable. The DLL version of the CRT is only initialized once per process.

Using the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, you can dynamically link your project with the CRT library by compiling it as a Multithreaded DLL. You can do this by including the /MD compiler switch.

If no CRT functions are used within a DLL, you can include the linker switches /NODEFAULTLIB and /ENTRY:DllMain to bypass the CRT initialization code.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q94248 HOWTO: Use the C Run-Time

Q94804 INFO: Thread Local Storage Overview

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbDLL kbKernBase kbNTOS400 kbWinOS2000 kbThread kbWinOS95 kbWinOS98 kbDSupport kbGrpKernBase
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb