Call to GetModuleHandle on kernel32 using Python C-types

Question

I\'m trying to use Python\'s C-Types to call GetModuleHandleA on the kernel32 library. I\'d like to get a handle to the library so I can use it to call GetProcAddress for L

Answer 1

The handle is stored in kernel32._handle. Calling GetModuleHandle should return the same value, but make sure you set restype and argtypes for type safety [*]:

import ctypes
from ctypes import wintypes

kernel32 = ctypes.WinDLL('kernel32', use_last_error=True)

kernel32.GetModuleHandleW.restype = wintypes.HMODULE
kernel32.GetModuleHandleW.argtypes = [wintypes.LPCWSTR]

hMod = kernel32.GetModuleHandleW('kernel32.dll')

Notice the 'W' suffix instead of 'A'. Python 3 uses Unicode strings, for which ctypes creates a c_wchar_p (LPCWSTR). There's no reason to call the [A]NSI version since it's just a wrapper around the [W]ide string version. But if you must, then you need to use bytes:

kernel32.GetModuleHandleA.restype = wintypes.HMODULE
kernel32.GetModuleHandleA.argtypes = [wintypes.LPCSTR]

hMod = kernel32.GetModuleHandleA(b'kernel32.dll')

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[*] I recommend using kernel32 = WinDLL('kernel32', use_last_error=True) instead of windll.kernel32. This avoids conflicts with other modules that use windll. It also enables protection for the thread's LastErrorValue. In this case, use ctypes.get_last_error() and ctypes.set_last_error(err) instead of directly calling WinAPI GetLastError and SetLastError.