July 9th, 2012

Why hasn't the API hook mechanism for x64 been standardized like it was for x86?

Joshua posted to the Suggestion Box, “Around the time of WinXP SP2 x86, the API hook mechanism was standardized. Why wasn’t the same thing done for x64?” Who said it was standardized for x86? Hooking APIs is not supported by Windows. There may be specific interfaces that expose hooks (like Co­Register­Initialize­Spy to let you monitor calls to CoInitialize and CoUninitialize, and Set­Windows­Hook­Ex to let you hook various window manager operations) but there is no supported general API hooking mechanism provided by the operating system.

So I don’t know where you got that idea from.

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Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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