DCompositionCreateDevice2: E_INVALIDARG One or more arguments are invalid

Question

Having an unusual problem running Win32C++ source codes with the function DCompositionCreateDevice2, which is compiled with VS 2015. The source codes compile without any error but display the above runtime error. Recompiling and running the same source codes with VS 2019, there is no runtime error. The test sample codes are Windows SDK samples listed below: TouchInputDirectManipulation

DCompV2BackfaceandD2DBatching

Any idea what could be the source of this problem? I am working on WTL open source project, and do not want to restrict the build environment to VS 2019.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 26 '21 at 10:24

This is actually an unusual issue... What happens is Microsoft has seriously messed up dcomp.lib between the Windows 8.1 SDK and the Windows 10 SDK.

Here is what you see if you dump the Windows 8.1 SDK dcomp.lib exports:

C:\>dumpbin "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Lib\winv6.3\um\x64\dcomp.lib" /exports
Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.28.29914.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

     Exports

       ordinal    name

                  DCompositionCreateDevice
          1017    DCompositionCreateDevice2
                  DCompositionCreateSurfaceHandle

And here is what you see if you dump the Windows 10 SDK dcomp.lib exports:

C:\>dumpbin "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.19041.0\um\x64\dcomp.lib" /exports
Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.28.29914.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

     Exports

       ordinal    name

                  DCompositionAttachMouseDragToHwnd
                  DCompositionAttachMouseWheelToHwnd
                  DCompositionCreateDevice
                  DCompositionCreateDevice2
                  DCompositionCreateDevice3
                  DCompositionCreateSurfaceHandle

As you can see the DCompositionCreateDevice2 was defined with ordinal 1017 initially. When you build your program using the Windows 8.1 SDK (which is how theses samples are currently defined), you get that using dumpbin:

C:\>dumpbin c:\mypath\TouchInputDirectManipulation\cpp\x64\Debug\DirectManipulationSample.exe /imports
Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.28.29914.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

  Section contains the following imports:

    dcomp.dll
             140054570 Import Address Table
             140054E98 Import Name Table
                     0 time date stamp
                     0 Index of first forwarder reference

                             Ordinal  1017

So, your .exe is linked to ordinal 1017, not to exported name DCompositionCreateDevice2.

The problem is, with Windows 10 (I think you're running on Windows 10), dcomp ordinal 1017 is not DCompositionCreateDevice2 but DCompositionAttachMouseDragToHwnd! This can be confirmed if you debug your program, you land into that function that doesn't like what you send to it and reports E_INVALIDARG.

So the solution is to change the SDK if you target Windows 10:

Or simply use GetProcAddress("DCompositionCreateDevice2") etc. to dcomp.dll to make sure you get the good one.

This should be reported to Microsoft I guess...

Thanks for the extensive research on this issue and the explanation. Yes, I am running Windows 10. I have seen codes using `GetProcAddress` for Direct2D related works including the MFC implementation, but never thought that could be the reason. I have stopped doing C/C++ for sometimes now and completely skipped Win8, now I think I need to get a copy!!! Thanks so much for the help. — PaulusHub, Apr 26 '21 at 11:01
Note you don't need Windows 8 to compile, unless you want to test your code on it. You can do everything on Windows 10. — Simon Mourier, Apr 26 '21 at 11:17
Actually working on library for WTL. With the current information, I think I need to equally test on Windows 8 too. — PaulusHub, Apr 26 '21 at 11:31
*"should be reported to Microsoft"* - Right. The question now is: Who to? The platform team? The team responsible for DirectComposition? The SDK team? Some other team? And once that question is answered, you'll have to find someone to report this to. I'm not aware of any active developer feedback channel. — IInspectable, Apr 26 '21 at 14:37
@IInspectable - I agree with you it's not super clear. It could also be on the corresponding github samples issue site like I did here once https://github.com/microsoft/Windows.UI.Composition-Win32-Samples/issues/81 (doesn't seem very followed...). The guys here can forward too https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/search but it depends on their mood. — Simon Mourier, Apr 26 '21 at 14:42

DCompositionCreateDevice2: E_INVALIDARG One or more arguments are invalid

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