DDE Error Message: Application Using DDE Did Not Respond (94955)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1
  • Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), when used with:
    • Microsoft Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q94955

SUMMARY

DDEML displays a dialog box with the following error message when a terminate deadlock occurs, often caused by a DDE application not terminating correctly:
Application using DDE did not respond to the System's Exit command

MORE INFORMATION

A terminate deadlock situation occurs when DDEML times out while waiting for a responding terminate.

This message box appears when a DDEML application calls DdeUninitialize() with conversations still active. DdeUninitialize() posts WM_DDE_TERMINATE messages for each open conversation, and waits for a corresponding WM_DDE_TERMINATE for a set period of time. This time is actually set in the [DDEML] section of the WIN.INI file 
   [DDEML]
   ShutdownTimeout= ?
   ShutdownRetryTimeout=?
where both are defined as integers defaulting to 30000 milliseconds. These WIN.INI entries were purposely not documented to discourage people from setting them to some other value.

If DDEML does not receive a response within the set period of time, it brings up the message box to allow the user to choose to either quit, wait longer, or wait indefinitely. This was done to work around a problem in Windows 3.0 where the system locks up if an application attempts to post a message to a non-existent window, and to allow the user to save his work.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/2/2004
Keywords:KB94955
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