SetWindowsHookEx(WH_JOURNALRECORD) is hanging the system on Windows 7 and Windows 8

Question

I'm in the process of porting an old application that uses the Journal Record Hooks to record macros to Windows 7/8. I've done everything that needs to be done to make this works, that is :
set uiAccess=true in the manifest
sign the application with a valid certificate
execute the application from the Program Files folder
After doing all this, the hook install correctly and it works. However, sometimes, for no apparent reason, the system freeze in a weird way : my keyboard and mouse inputs doesn't reach any application and the only thing I can do is ctrl-alt-del or ctrl-esc,
which uninstalls all system wide hooks and thus, unfreeze the system.
I've added some trace logs and I've discovered that when it happens, the SetWindowsHook function returns a valid hook handler, my hook function is called, but only once and then the system freezes. I've actually cleaned up my hook function and the only thing
I'm doing is return 0.
Is this a known issue or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

Answer 1

Hello subbtract,
>> the SetWindowsHook function returns a valid hook handler, my hook function is called, but only once and then the system freezes.
Will your tested machines be fresh which I means there is other application installed except yours? If possible, I suggest you could make a test with conditions above, if the system is still frozen, this should a issue of system about the SetWindowsHook
function. You could post it to:
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio
While if it works with a fresh machine, this issue could be caused by features of installed applications. You could then compare worked and not worked to check the difference.
Regards.
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