CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cwindowswinapimutex
Ajay
Ajay

Reputation: 18429

Opening a named mutex by fully a qualified path

Is it possible to open or query a named mutex, using OpenMutex, by its full path qualification? For example:

HANDLE hHandleMutex = OpenMutex(READ_CONTROL, FALSE, 
            "\\Sessions\\1\\BaseNamedObjects\\SmartScreen_AppRepSettings_Mutex");

However, the function returns NULL and fails with error 161 (ERROR_BAD_PATHNAME: The specified path is invalid). Yes, the documentation says well about \\Global and \\Local prefixes and doesn't state anything about these full object names. However, MSDN doesn't state everything!

I am aware that we can query the same using NtQuerySystemInformation, NtQueryObject undocumented APIs. But that involves opening process, duplicating the token etc. I can very well use these APIs, but wanted a simple solution.

Let's assume that process is running as a SYSTEM account, so error 5 (access denied) won't be a problem. If that's the problem, I can handle it.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1809

Answers (1)

David Heffernan
David Heffernan

Reputation: 613262

You are using the wrong path. It should be:

"Session\\1\\SmartScreen_AppRepSettings_Mutex"

The documentation says that the Session\ prefix is "reserved for system" use. Caveat emptor.

Upvotes: 3

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