VirtualAllocFromApp function (memoryapi.h)
Reserves, commits, or changes the state of a region of pages in the virtual address space of the calling process. Memory allocated by this function is automatically initialized to zero.
Syntax
PVOID VirtualAllocFromApp(
[in, optional] PVOID BaseAddress,
[in] SIZE_T Size,
[in] ULONG AllocationType,
[in] ULONG Protection
);
Parameters
[in, optional] BaseAddress
The starting address of the region to allocate. If the memory is being reserved, the specified address is rounded down to the nearest multiple of the allocation granularity. If the memory is already reserved and is being committed, the address is rounded down to the next page boundary. To determine the size of a page and the allocation granularity on the host computer, use the GetSystemInfo function. If this parameter is NULL, the system determines where to allocate the region.
[in] Size
The size of the region, in bytes. If the BaseAddress parameter is NULL, this value is rounded up to the next page boundary. Otherwise, the allocated pages include all pages containing one or more bytes in the range from BaseAddress to BaseAddress+Size. This means that a 2-byte range straddling a page boundary causes both pages to be included in the allocated region.
[in] AllocationType
The type of memory allocation. This parameter must contain one of the following values.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
|
Allocates memory charges (from the overall size of memory and the paging files on disk) for the specified
reserved memory pages. The function also guarantees that when the caller later initially accesses the memory,
the contents will be zero. Actual physical pages are not allocated unless/until the virtual addresses are
actually accessed.
To reserve and commit pages in one step, call
VirtualAllocFromApp with
Attempting to commit a specific address range by specifying MEM_COMMIT without MEM_RESERVE and a non-NULL BaseAddress fails unless the entire range has already been reserved. The resulting error code is ERROR_INVALID_ADDRESS. An attempt to commit a page that is already committed does not cause the function to fail. This means that you can commit pages without first determining the current commitment state of each page. |
|
Reserves a range of the process's virtual address space without allocating any actual physical storage in
memory or in the paging file on disk.
You can commit reserved pages in subsequent calls to the VirtualAllocFromApp function. To reserve and commit pages in one step, call VirtualAllocFromApp with MEM_COMMIT | MEM_RESERVE. Other memory allocation functions, such as malloc and LocalAlloc, cannot use a reserved range of memory until it is released. |
|
Indicates that data in the memory range specified by BaseAddress and
Size is no longer of interest. The pages should not be read from or written to
the paging file. However, the memory block will be used again later, so it should not be decommitted. This
value cannot be used with any other value.
Using this value does not guarantee that the range operated on with MEM_RESET will contain zeros. If you want the range to contain zeros, decommit the memory and then recommit it. When you specify MEM_RESET, the VirtualAllocFromApp function ignores the value of Protection. However, you must still set Protection to a valid protection value, such as PAGE_NOACCESS. VirtualAllocFromApp returns an error if you use MEM_RESET and the range of memory is mapped to a file. A shared view is only acceptable if it is mapped to a paging file. |
|
MEM_RESET_UNDO should only be called on an address range to which
MEM_RESET was successfully applied earlier. It indicates that the data in the
specified memory range specified by BaseAddress and Size
is of interest to the caller and attempts to reverse the effects of MEM_RESET. If
the function succeeds, that means all data in the specified address range is intact. If the function fails,
at least some of the data in the address range has been replaced with zeroes.
This value cannot be used with any other value. If MEM_RESET_UNDO is called on an address range which was not MEM_RESET earlier, the behavior is undefined. When you specify MEM_RESET, the VirtualAllocFromApp function ignores the value of Protection. However, you must still set Protection to a valid protection value, such as PAGE_NOACCESS. |
This parameter can also specify the following values as indicated.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
|
Allocates memory using large page support.
The size and alignment must be a multiple of the large-page minimum. To obtain this value, use the GetLargePageMinimum function. If you specify this value, you must also specify MEM_RESERVE and MEM_COMMIT. |
|
Reserves an address range that can be used to map
Address Windowing Extensions (AWE)
pages.
This value must be used with MEM_RESERVE and no other values. |
|
Allocates memory at the highest possible address. This can be slower than regular allocations, especially when there are many allocations. |
|
Causes the system to track pages that are written to in the allocated region. If you specify this value,
you must also specify MEM_RESERVE.
To retrieve the addresses of the pages that have been written to since the region was allocated or the write-tracking state was reset, call the GetWriteWatch function. To reset the write-tracking state, call GetWriteWatch or ResetWriteWatch. The write-tracking feature remains enabled for the memory region until the region is freed. |
[in] Protection
The memory protection for the region of pages to be allocated. If the pages are being committed, you can specify one of the memory protection constants. The following constants generate an error:
- PAGE_EXECUTE
- PAGE_EXECUTE_READ
- PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE
- PAGE_EXECUTE_WRITECOPY
Return value
If the function succeeds, the return value is the base address of the allocated region of pages.
If the function fails, the return value is NULL. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.
Remarks
You can call VirtualAllocFromApp from Windows Store apps with just-in-time (JIT) capabilities to use JIT functionality. The app must include the codeGeneration capability in the app manifest file to use JIT capabilities.
Each page has an associated page state. The VirtualAllocFromApp function can perform the following operations:
- Commit a region of reserved pages
- Reserve a region of free pages
- Simultaneously reserve and commit a region of free pages
You can use VirtualAllocFromApp to reserve a block of pages and then make additional calls to VirtualAllocFromApp to commit individual pages from the reserved block. This enables a process to reserve a range of its virtual address space without consuming physical storage until it is needed.
If the BaseAddress parameter is not NULL, the function uses the BaseAddress and Size parameters to compute the region of pages to be allocated. The current state of the entire range of pages must be compatible with the type of allocation specified by the AllocationType parameter. Otherwise, the function fails and none of the pages are allocated. This compatibility requirement does not preclude committing an already committed page, as mentioned previously.
VirtualAllocFromApp does not allow the creation of executable pages.
The VirtualAllocFromApp function can be used to reserve an Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) region of memory within the virtual address space of a specified process. This region of memory can then be used to map physical pages into and out of virtual memory as required by the application. The MEM_PHYSICAL and MEM_RESERVE values must be set in the AllocationType parameter. The MEM_COMMIT value must not be set. The page protection must be set to PAGE_READWRITE.
The VirtualFree function can decommit a committed page, releasing the page's storage, or it can simultaneously decommit and release a committed page. It can also release a reserved page, making it a free page.
When creating a region that will be executable, the calling program bears responsibility for ensuring cache coherency via an appropriate call to FlushInstructionCache once the code has been set in place. Otherwise attempts to execute code out of the newly executable region may produce unpredictable results.
Requirements
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum supported client | Windows 10 [desktop apps | UWP apps] |
| Minimum supported server | Windows Server 2016 [desktop apps | UWP apps] |
| Target Platform | Windows |
| Header | memoryapi.h (include Windows.h) |
| Library | WindowsApp.lib |
| DLL | Kernel32.dll |