CryptReleaseContext info Overview Group

The CryptReleaseContext function is used to release a handle to a CSP and a key container.

This should be performed when the application is finished using the CSP. Once this function is called, the CSP handle specified by the hProv parameter will no longer be valid. Neither the key container nor any key pairs are destroyed by this function.

BOOL CRYPTFUNC CryptReleaseContext(

HCRYPTPROV hProv,
DWORD dwFlags
);

Parameters

hProv: [in] A handle to the application’s CSP. This is the handle the application obtained using the CryptAcquireContext function.
dwFlags: [in] The flag values. This parameter is reserved for future use and should always be zero.

Remarks

Once this function has been called, the “session” is over, and all existing session keys and hash objects that were created using the hProv handle become invalid. In practice, all of these objects should be destroyed (with the CryptDestroyKey and CryptDestroyHash functions) before the CryptReleaseContext function is called.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To retrieve extended error information, use the GetLastError function.

The following table lists the error codes most commonly returned by the GetLastError function. The error codes prefaced by “NTE” are generated by the particular CSP you are using.

Error	Description
ERROR_BUSY	The CSP context specified by hProv is currently being used by another process.
ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE	One of the parameters specifies an invalid handle.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER	One of the parameters contains an invalid value. This is most often an illegal pointer.
NTE_BAD_FLAGS	The dwFlags parameter is nonzero.
NTE_BAD_UID	The hProv parameter does not contain a valid context handle.

Example

See the “Example” section in the CryptAcquireContext function.