windowswindow-handles

Are window handles (HWND) unique, or do they ever get reused?


I am thinking if there are handles of the same value ?

To clarify my question, let's say I open Notepad, type in some text, save it and then close Notepad. If I repeat this a thousand times (or even more), will I ever have a chance to see the same window handle (HWND) value being used for the Notepad main window that was used the first time? If so, why?


Solution

  • By the pigeonhole principal, yes, they can't be unique.

    Due to the compatibility with 32-bit processes (WoW64), handles cannot use the entire 64-bits even on 64-bit OS -- think of a 64-bit process passing a handle to a 32-bit child, or getting a handle to a window opened by a 32-bit process. This makes their true space pretty small, and thus reuse very likely.