SetConsoleMode fails with zero, lasterror = 0

Question

This is not a duplicate! - Well, after reading the comments, maybe it is.

I was looking for a way to italicize text in the console output of a console application, in c#, Visual Studio 2015, Targeting .NET Framework 4.5.2, OS = Windows 7.

The Microsoft Documentation is pretty clear

It's here - and it's so misleading it's wrong. This is an OS problem.

I found the following question with a solution that does what I want by Vladimir Reshetnikov,

adding text decorations to console output

answered Mar 28 at 19:52 in one of the answers, and code like it in git, and elsewhere... my problem is - naturally - it doesn't work for me.

I copied the author's code with minor mods into the following console application

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        const int STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE = -11;
        const uint ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING = 4;

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
        static extern bool GetConsoleMode(IntPtr hConsoleHandle, out uint lpMode);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
        static extern bool SetConsoleMode(IntPtr hConsoleHandle, uint dwMode);

        static void Main()
        {
            var handle = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
            uint mode;
            GetConsoleMode(handle, out mode);
            mode |= ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING;
            SetConsoleMode(handle, mode);

            const string UNDERLINE = "\x1B[4m";
            const string RESET = "\x1B[0m";
            Console.WriteLine("Some " + UNDERLINE + "underlined" + RESET + " text");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

and I get the VT commands in the window, instead of underline, as in the article.

Here's my console window:

I've trapped the return value from ConsoleSetMode - it's zero. I've seen this failure with lasterror = 6, but the lasterror here is 0.

Think it's a recent update? ... or something? [edit] It's a Windows version problem - Windows 10 AU, apparently, is required.

Answer 1

Make sure the checkbox "Use legacy console" near the bottom of the console properties is not set:

If you do not see this checkbox, then you are probably using a too old version of Windows.

You can manipulate this checkbox programmatically using the registry key HKCU\Console\ForceV2 as explained in this answer.