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Marshal.ZeroFreeGlobalAllocAnsi Method

.NET Framework 4

Other Versions

Frees an unmanaged string pointer that was allocated using the SecureStringToGlobalAllocAnsi method.

Namespace: System.Runtime.InteropServices
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

C++

Copy

public static void ZeroFreeGlobalAllocAnsi(
	IntPtr s
)

Parameters

s: Type: System.IntPtr
The address of the unmanaged string to free.

Remarks

The ZeroFreeGlobalAllocAnsi method first zeros out and then frees unmanaged memory that was allocated using the SecureStringToGlobalAllocAnsi method.

Examples

The following example uses the SecureStringToGlobalAllocAnsi method to marshal and decrypt the contents of a SecureString object to a block of unmanaged memory. It then uses the ZeroFreeGlobalAllocAnsi method to zero out and dispose the unmanaged block.

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using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security;
using System.Security.Principal;
using System.Text;

namespace SecureStringExample
{

    class MarshalExample
    {


        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            IntPtr unmanagedRef = IntPtr.Zero;

            try
            {
                // Ask the user for a password.
                Console.Write("Please enter your password:");

                SecureString passWord = GetPassword();

                Console.WriteLine("Copying and decrypting the string to unmanaged memory...");

                // Copy the Secure string to unmanaged memory (and decrypt it).
                unmanagedRef = Marshal.SecureStringToGlobalAllocAnsi(passWord);

            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                if (unmanagedRef != IntPtr.Zero)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Zeroing out unmanaged memory...");

                    Marshal.ZeroFreeGlobalAllocAnsi(unmanagedRef);
                }
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Done.");

            Console.ReadLine();


        }

        public static SecureString GetPassword()
        {
            SecureString password = new SecureString();

            // get the first character of the password
            ConsoleKeyInfo nextKey = Console.ReadKey(true);

            while (nextKey.Key != ConsoleKey.Enter)
            {
                if (nextKey.Key == ConsoleKey.Backspace)
                {
                    if (password.Length > 0)
                    {
                        password.RemoveAt(password.Length - 1);

                        // erase the last * as well
                        Console.Write(nextKey.KeyChar);
                        Console.Write(" ");
                        Console.Write(nextKey.KeyChar);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    password.AppendChar(nextKey.KeyChar);
                    Console.Write("*");
                }

                nextKey = Console.ReadKey(true);
            }

            Console.WriteLine();

            // lock the password down
            password.MakeReadOnly();
            return password;
        }
    }
}

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

.NET Framework Security

SecurityCriticalAttribute
requires full trust for the immediate caller. This member cannot be used by partially trusted or transparent code.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

Marshal Class

System.Runtime.InteropServices Namespace

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