Should I be closing HKEY?

If I do:

HKEY lKey = NULL;

if(AssocQueryKey(..., &lKey) == S_OK)
{
    :
    if(RegCloseKey(lKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
        //success
        int a = 0;//<- goes through here
    }
    else
    {
        //failure
        int a = 0;
    }
    if(RegCloseKey(lKey) == ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
        //success
        int a = 0;
    }
    else
    {
        //failure
        int a = 0;//<- goes through here
    }
}

It would appear that lKey needs to be closed, but the documentation for AssocQueryKey says nothing about it, and the help for RegCloseKey specifically says "the handle must h开发者_高级运维ave been opened by the RegCreateKeyEx, RegCreateKeyTransacted, RegOpenKeyEx, RegOpenKeyTransacted, or RegConnectRegistry function".

Should I be closing lKey? If so, how?

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The documentation seems to be at fault. Consider this MSDN page with the code in which the key is closed after obtained with AssocQueryKey.

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You can be sure about how handles are managed over time in your process using the Handle utility. Run your program in a debugger, and look at its handle usage (esp. Registry category) before and after the call to AssocQueryKey.

If there's a new Registry handle after the call, my guess is you have to close it, because afai can see nobody else is going to.

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An HKEY needs to be closed. Nobody else is going to close this one for you, so you need to do so.