VS2017 Windows Side by side feature is not working for Comctl32.dll

Question

VS2017 Windows Side by side feature is not working for Comctl32.dll

Ramseem A 46

We have Used Windows Common control (ComCtl32.dll) version 5 in most of the modules(DLL and EXE).
Now Some modules(DLL) requires the feature of Windows Common control version 6. We performed a feasibility using Windows Side by side feature to load both version 5 and version 6 in different DLLs of same application. All binaries are build using VS2010 and works fine in Windows 7 and Windows 10 OS. But Now we use VS2017 for build our binaries and seems that the feature is not working.

Since it is big system maintained by different team we can't able to switch the entire application to Common control version version 6. We also try to use CCM_SETVERSION message but it is also failed.

Please help me to solve the issue

Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 11,356 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-05-26T08:10:33.493+00:00

@Ramseem A

As far as I'm concerned, multiple versions of common controls can coexist in the same process. I suggest you could try to make sure you have enabled Visual Styles.
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T09:22:24.837+00:00

Can you share with us a minimum verifiable sample that reliably reproduces the problem that we can build and test with our own copies of VS 2017?
Ramseem A 46 Reputation points

2021-05-26T14:14:29.92+00:00

We have used manifest for common controls of version 6 in our DLL and the Application use manifest for ComCtl32.dll of version 5, it is working for binaries build using VS2010. But it is not working for the binaries build in VS2017. Is there any additional step needed in VS2017 projects?

Sample code share @ CPP
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T16:25:43.597+00:00

I built the sample project with VS2017 Version 15.9.36 on Win7. A 32-bit build showed that both versions of Comctl32.dll were loaded into the process. See the following image which shows the loaded modules -
Ramseem A 46 Reputation points

2021-05-26T18:07:33.7+00:00

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
Now windows 7 is not available for checking this issue. We checked in Windows 10 OS.
All the information are included in the image. Please check the below image.

Even if application uses common control version 5, Button control in your attached figure also seems button control of common control version 6
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T19:03:20.9+00:00

Same results as yours on Win10 with VS2017 and VS2019. Only V5.82 of Comctl32.dll gets loaded and all dialogs have old-style buttons. I don't know if this is a Win10 problem or an MFC problem.

Have you tried testing using the Win32 API without MFC?
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T20:25:26.207+00:00

I did my own quick Win32 API test on Win 10 using VS2019. For both 32-bit and 64-bit the correct versions of comctl32.dll were used for the dialog in the executable and in the dll.

Before invoking the dll dialog- only V5.82 of comctl32.dll is loaded and dialog has old-style buttons -

After invoking the dll dialog - both V6 and V5 dlls were loaded and dll dialog had visual styles applied.

So it seems that MFC is not managing activation contexts.

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Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 11,356 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-05-26T08:10:33.493+00:00

@Ramseem A

As far as I'm concerned, multiple versions of common controls can coexist in the same process. I suggest you could try to make sure you have enabled Visual Styles.
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T09:22:24.837+00:00

Can you share with us a minimum verifiable sample that reliably reproduces the problem that we can build and test with our own copies of VS 2017?
Ramseem A 46 Reputation points

2021-05-26T14:14:29.92+00:00

We have used manifest for common controls of version 6 in our DLL and the Application use manifest for ComCtl32.dll of version 5, it is working for binaries build using VS2010. But it is not working for the binaries build in VS2017. Is there any additional step needed in VS2017 projects?

Sample code share @ CPP
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T16:25:43.597+00:00

I built the sample project with VS2017 Version 15.9.36 on Win7. A 32-bit build showed that both versions of Comctl32.dll were loaded into the process. See the following image which shows the loaded modules -
Ramseem A 46 Reputation points

2021-05-26T18:07:33.7+00:00

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
Now windows 7 is not available for checking this issue. We checked in Windows 10 OS.
All the information are included in the image. Please check the below image.

Even if application uses common control version 5, Button control in your attached figure also seems button control of common control version 6
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T19:03:20.9+00:00

Same results as yours on Win10 with VS2017 and VS2019. Only V5.82 of Comctl32.dll gets loaded and all dialogs have old-style buttons. I don't know if this is a Win10 problem or an MFC problem.

Have you tried testing using the Win32 API without MFC?
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-26T20:25:26.207+00:00

I did my own quick Win32 API test on Win 10 using VS2019. For both 32-bit and 64-bit the correct versions of comctl32.dll were used for the dialog in the executable and in the dll.

Before invoking the dll dialog- only V5.82 of comctl32.dll is loaded and dialog has old-style buttons -

After invoking the dll dialog - both V6 and V5 dlls were loaded and dll dialog had visual styles applied.

So it seems that MFC is not managing activation contexts.

Answer 1

RLWA32 49,636

At this point I believe that MFC versions after the one included in VS2010 fail to manage activation contexts contrary to the published documentation (e.g., AFX_MANAGE_STATE, support-for-activation-contexts-in-the-mfc-module-state). The docs also refer to functions and headers that do not exist in the VS2017 and VS2019 supplied versions of MFC such as AfxSetAmbientActCtx and afxcomctl32.h

Also, take a look at vs2015-mfc140dll-deactivates-my-activation-context-due-to-isolation-aware-how-to-fix. I forgot about this thread -- the activation context problem has existed for quite a while.

I suggest you open an issue with Developer Community and provide the minimum sample that you have already created. If you do open an issue please post back with the link so we can upvote it.

Ramseem A 46 Reputation points

2021-05-27T18:04:30.817+00:00

Once again, thanks a lot for your reply.

I have posted this issue in the Microsoft developer community. And the link is VS2017 Windows Side by side feature is not working for Comctl32.dll
RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points

2021-05-27T19:14:03.943+00:00

You're welcome, and thanks for posting the developer community link. I upvoted the issue.

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VS2017 Windows Side by side feature is not working for Comctl32.dll

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