WSAGetLastError function (winsock.h)

The WSAGetLastError function returns the error status for the last Windows Sockets operation that failed.

Syntax

int WSAGetLastError();

Return value

The return value indicates the error code for this thread's last Windows Sockets operation that failed.

Remarks

The WSAGetLastError function returns the last error that occurred for the calling thread. When a particular Windows Sockets function indicates an error has occurred, this function should be called immediately to retrieve the extended error code for the failing function call. This extended error code can be different from the error code obtained from getsockopt when called with an optname parameter of SO_ERROR, which is socket-specific since WSAGetLastError is for all thread-specific sockets.

If a function call's return value indicates that error or other relevant data was returned in the error code, WSAGetLastError should be called immediately. This is necessary because some functions may reset the last extended error code to 0 if they succeed, overwriting the extended error code returned by a previously failed function. To specifically reset the extended error code, use the WSASetLastError function call with the iError parameter set to zero. A getsockopt function when called with an optname parameter of SO_ERROR also resets the extended error code to zero.

The WSAGetLastError function should not be used to check for an extended error value on receipt of an asynchronous message. In this case, the extended error value is passed in the lParam parameter of the message, and this can differ from the value returned by WSAGetLastError.

The Windows Sockets extended error codes returned by this function and the text description of the error are listed under Windows Sockets Error Codes. These error codes and a short text description associated with an error code are defined in the Winerror.h header file. The FormatMessage function can be used to obtain the message string for the returned error.

For information on how to handle error codes when porting socket applications to Winsock, see Error Codes - errno, h_errno and WSAGetLastError.

Windows Phone 8: This function is supported for Windows Phone Store apps on Windows Phone 8 and later.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: This function is supported for Windows Store apps on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later.

Requirements

See also

Error Codes - errno, h_errno and WSAGetLastError

FormatMessage

WSASetLastError

WSAStartup

Windows Sockets Error Codes

Winsock Functions

Winsock Reference

getsockopt