PRB: ATL EXE Server Built On Windows 95 Errors While Registering (166217)

SYMPTOMS

When building an Active Template Library (ATL) COM EXE server on a machine running Windows 95, you might get the message box that your server is linked to missing export from OLE32.DLL : CoSuspendClassObjects.

CAUSE

_WIN32_WINNT is defined in the Stdafx.h file and the problem is caused by the following code in the generated project source file:

   #if _WIN32_WINNT >= 0x0400
      if (CoSuspendClassObjects() == S_OK)
         PostThreadMessage(dwThreadID, WM_QUIT, 0, 0);
   #else
      PostThreadMessage(dwThreadID, WM_QUIT, 0, 0);
   #endif

It is caused by the definition of _WIN32_WINNT in Stdafx.h. In ATL 1.1 for Visual C++ 4.2, this was not defined automatically, so users had to define it themselves if they were using Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 with DCOM. The majority of people will be targeting Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 with DCOM, so it is automatically defined.

RESOLUTION

If you want to develop under Windows 95, you can simply remove the macro from the generated Stdafx.h file. The problem also goes away when DCOM is installed on Windows 95.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Open a new ATL COM Project on Windows 95.
Choose EXE + Finish.
Build the project.

The output window contains the following text:

Linking....
Performing registration
A device attached to the system is not functioning.
Server registration done!

Then the message box pops up informing you that the server EXE is linked to missing export OLE32.DLL : CoSuspendClassObjects.