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WSASYSCALLFAILURE
WSASYSCALLFAILURE is deliberately generic. Microsoft uses it for local system calls that are expected not to fail and for provider failures where the provider did not supply a meaningful extended Winsock error.
Examples of the failure class
The Winsock documentation mentions failures in event-waiting or registry operations used while manipulating protocol and namespace catalogs. It can also indicate a service provider implementation defect when the provider returns failure without setting a specific error.
How to make the code actionable
- Capture the exact Winsock API and call stack; the code alone does not identify the failed subsystem.
- Call
WSAGetLastErrorimmediately, before another Winsock call overwrites the thread-local error. - Record the selected protocol or namespace provider and provider catalog entry.
- Collect provider-specific logs and Windows event data around catalog or DLL failures.
Do not automatically retry every operation on this code. If the provider repeatedly returns a generic failure for the same input, retry can hide a deterministic implementation or catalog problem. First isolate whether the base provider reproduces the failure.
Microsoft: Winsock error codes · Microsoft: WSAGetLastError · Microsoft: handling Winsock errors
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