The Old New Thing

Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.

Latest posts

Resolving an ambiguity in the Windows clipboard automated text conversion table
Dec 12, 2025
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Resolving an ambiguity in the Windows clipboard automated text conversion table

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Who goes first?

Studying the various locale mismatch scenarios in Windows clipboard text format synthesis
Dec 11, 2025
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Studying the various locale mismatch scenarios in Windows clipboard text format synthesis

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

If they don't match, then the 8-bit strings are basically broken already.

How does Windows synthesize the <CODE>CF_<WBR>LOCALE</CODE> clipboard format?
Dec 10, 2025
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How does Windows synthesize the CF_LOCALE clipboard format?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Getting it from a place that might have been obvious in the past, but maybe not today.

How does Windows synthesize <CODE>CF_<WBR>UNICODE­TEXT</CODE> from <CODE>CF_<WBR>TEXT</CODE> and vice versa?
Dec 9, 2025
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How does Windows synthesize CF_UNICODE­TEXT from CF_TEXT and vice versa?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Let's ask the locale.

How does Windows synthesize <CODE>CF_<WBR>OEM­TEXT</CODE> from <CODE>CF_<WBR>TEXT</CODE> and vice versa?
Dec 8, 2025
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How does Windows synthesize CF_OEM­TEXT from CF_TEXT and vice versa?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Starting with the easy case, or at least it looks easy.

How can my process read its own standard output?
Dec 5, 2025
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How can my process read its own standard output?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

You'll have to trick yourself before anybody notices, which may not be possible.

How can I read the standard output of an already-running process?
Dec 4, 2025
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How can I read the standard output of an already-running process?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

You can't. You'll have to do it before the process starts.

How do I check whether the user has permission to create files in a directory?
Dec 3, 2025
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How do I check whether the user has permission to create files in a directory?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Request the directory security attributes that correspond to your proposed operation.

Microspeak: Big rocks
Dec 2, 2025
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Microspeak: Big rocks

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

The large obstacles.