How to Fix Windows Error Code 14xx (1400, 1410, 1411 etc) in your 32 bit multithreaded service application

We got some strange kinds of error in our 32 bit multithreaded service on Windows x64 Server 2012. After some time (actually few hours after restart the system) properly working, the service starts to push errors like "System error. Error code 1400". The solution below fixed our issue.

This is a "desktop heap" problem. A very good discussion can be found here:

Desktop Heap Overview

Note that this only applies to programs that are running as services, because the default desktop heap size for services is so much smaller than that for applications.

In our case, we were able to launch about 100 child processes before running out of resources without the change. With the change, this number can be increased considerably.

This is the answer we've given to our end users on our knowledgebase:

WARNING: this affects the desktop heap of all services! Do not make it larger than necessary or you will push the system to consume more resource and you may bump up against problems in the total available desktop heap size.

If you find that you cannot open more than about 100 total projects, even on a very large RAM server, you may have run into a limit of the Windows "desktop heap size".

The problem is that service sessions under windows (where the services run) have less of this "desktop heap" space available for creating windows.

The short version is:

• Services get smaller desktop heaps than interactive sessions.
• Desktop heap size limits the number of windows
• Each sub-server creates one or more “windows” even if we can’t see them.

Solution:

1. Backup your registry before making any changes!
2. Run regedit.exe as administrator
3. Edit the registry value:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems\Windows
   

4. You will see a string like:

   %SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows SharedSection=1024,20480,768 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3 ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ServerDll=sxssrv,4 ProfileControl=Off MaxRequestThreads=16
   

The critical bit is:

SharedSection=1024,20480,768

The second number (20480) is the size for interactive sessions. The third number (768) is the size of non-interactive (services) sessions. Note how the third number is 26x smaller than the second. Experimentally, we found that changing this to:

SharedSection=1024,20480,2048

Increased the project limit from 106 to 270, almost perfectly scaling with the heap size. Pick a value that reflects the maximum number of projects that you expect to be opened simultaneously by all users on the system. Do not make this value larger than necessary, and no larger than 8192, as each service in your system will consume more of a precious resource.

You will need to reboot for these new settings to take effect.

Another articles could be interesting to read:

Configuring the Windows registry: Increasing the noninteractive desktop heap size

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Processes and Threads