Re: CryptAcquireContext problem

From: John Banes [MS] (jbanes_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 01/28/04 

Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 17:02:21 -0800

Using the default key container (the one with a name of NULL) turns out to
be a really bad idea, and frequently causes problems such as this.

If your application doesn't need to use a persistant private key, then you
should call CryptAcquireContext with NULL for the pszContainer parameter and
CRYPT_VERIFYCONTEXT for the dwFlags parameter. When called this way,
CryptAcquireContext should essentially never fail.

If your application does need a persistent private key, then you should give
its key container a unique name. GUIDs work well for this.

Regards,
John Banes
[Microsoft Security Developer]

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"bluecrest" <bluecrest_cn@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e0xbpAJ5DHA.1936@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <windows.h>
#include <wincrypt.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
 HCRYPTPROV hProv;

 if(!CryptAcquireContext(&hProv,
  NULL,
  NULL,
  PROV_RSA_FULL,
  0))
 {
  if(GetLastError() == NTE_BAD_KEYSET )
  {
   CryptAcquireContext(&hProv,
    NULL,
    NULL,
    PROV_RSA_FULL,
    CRYPT_NEWKEYSET);
  }
  else
   return FALSE;
 }

 if(!CryptAcquireContext(&hProv,
  NULL,
  NULL,
  PROV_RSA_FULL,
  0))
  return FALSE;

 return 0;
}

the first CryptAcquireContext the return value is zero,
the second CryptAcquireContext takes long time to return ,the return value
is zero?
Any ideas what could be causing this behavior?

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