Why do I get the error REGDB_E_IIDNOTREG when I call a method that returns an interface?

Raymond Chen

This is another manifestation of the missing marshaller problem.

IContextMenu *pcm;
HRESULT hr = psf->GetUIObjectOf(hwnd, 1, &pidl,
               IID_IContextMenu, NULL, &pcm);
// fails with REGDB_E_IIDNOTREG

The IContextMenu interface does not have a proxy/stub factory (as of this writing). Recall that shell objects, as a rule, are apartment model. If you create the object from a multi-threaded apartment, COM needs to build a wrapper object which can marshal calls from off-thread back onto the original thread, in order to adhere to the threading rules for apartment-model objects.

And if the COM standard marshaler can’t find a proxy/stub factory for an interface, it returns the error REGDB_E_IIDNOTREG.

Raymond Chen

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