DisableThreadLibraryCalls function (libloaderapi.h)

Article
02/22/2024

Disables the DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETACH notifications for the specified dynamic-link library (DLL). This can reduce the size of the working set for some applications.

Syntax

BOOL DisableThreadLibraryCalls(
  [in] HMODULE hLibModule
);

Parameters

[in] hLibModule

A handle to the DLL module for which the DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETACH notifications are to be disabled. The LoadLibrary, LoadLibraryEx, or GetModuleHandle function returns this handle. Note that you cannot call GetModuleHandle with NULL because this returns the base address of the executable image, not the DLL image.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. The DisableThreadLibraryCalls function fails if the DLL specified by hModule has active static thread local storage, or if hModule is an invalid module handle. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

The DisableThreadLibraryCalls function lets a DLL disable the DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETACH notification calls. This can be a useful optimization for multithreaded applications that have many DLLs, frequently create and delete threads, and whose DLLs do not need these thread-level notifications of attachment/detachment. A remote procedure call (RPC) server application is an example of such an application. In these sorts of applications, DLL initialization routines often remain in memory to service DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETACH notifications. By disabling the notifications, the DLL initialization code is not paged in because a thread is created or deleted, thus reducing the size of the application's working code set. To implement the optimization, modify a DLL's DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH code to call DisableThreadLibraryCalls.

Do not call this function from a DLL that is linked to the static C run-time library (CRT). The static CRT requires DLL_THREAD_ATTACH and DLL_THREAD_DETATCH notifications to function properly.

This function does not perform any optimizations if static Thread Local Storage (TLS) is enabled. Static TLS is enabled when using thread_local variables, __declspec( thread ) variables, or function-local static.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	libloaderapi.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll