A program window may not be visible if the program hangs in Windows XP or in Windows Server 2003 (820252)

SYMPTOMS

A program window may not be visible if the program stops responding (hangs). A program is considered to be hung if the program does not respond to window messages within several seconds, and a status of "Not Responding" appears in Windows Task Manager. In the problem state, the Win32 IsWindowVisible function does not return the WS_VISIBLE flag.

A Microsoft Visual Basic program may report the following error when the program tries to use the SetFocus method on a window:

Run-time error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument.

RESOLUTION

Windows Server 2003 service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

889100 How to obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003

Windows XP service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322389 How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Windows XP hotfix information

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version        Size       File name
   --------------------------------------------------------
   09-May-2003  09:38  5.1.2600.1220    529,408  User32.dll
   09-May-2003  09:23  5.1.2600.1220  1,677,056  Win32k.sys

WORKAROUND

You can use the Application Compatibility Toolkit to create and install a custom Application Compatibility database to disable the Ghost Window feature for your program. To download the Application Compatibility Toolkit, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnanchor/html/appcompat.asp

To create a custom Application Compatibility database:

Install and run the Compatibility Administrator tool (add the /x switch to the command line for advanced features).
Right-click Custom Database, and then click New.
Right-click the new database, and then click Rename.
Type noghost as the name of the database.
Right-click New Database, click Create New, and then click Application Fix. Type the name of the program to be fixed.
Type the name of the program manufacturer.
Locate and then click the appropriate program (.exe) file.
Click Next.
In the Compatibility Modes window, click None, and then click Next.
In the Compatibility Fixes list, click NoGhost.
Click either Test Run or Finish. Clicking Test Run starts the program with the Application Compatibility setting. Clicking Finish adds the compatibility fix to your database.
On the File menu, click Save to save the database. Or, copy the database to the C:\Windows\AppPatch folder.
Right-click the database, and then click Install. Or, run the sdbinst c:\windows\apppatch\noghost.sdb -q command to install the database.

MORE INFORMATION

The following information about the GetMessage function is documented for the Ghost Window feature in Windows XP. For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

GetMessage function

If a top-level window stops responding to messages for more than several seconds, the system considers the window to be hung and replaces it with a ghost window that has the same z-order, location, size, and visual attributes. This allows the user to move it, resize it, or even close the application. However, these are the only actions available because the application is actually hung. When in the debugger mode, the system does not generate a ghost window.