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Mutex Constructor

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Initializes a new instance of the Mutex class with a Boolean value that indicates whether the calling thread should have initial ownership of the mutex, and a string that is the name of the mutex.

Namespace:  System.Threading
Assembly:  mscorlib.Extensions (in mscorlib.Extensions.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<SecuritySafeCriticalAttribute> _
Public Sub New ( _
    initiallyOwned As Boolean, _
    name As String _
)

[SecuritySafeCriticalAttribute]
public Mutex(
    bool initiallyOwned,
    string name
)

Parameters

  • initiallyOwned
    Type: System.Boolean
    true to give the calling thread initial ownership of the named system mutex if the named system mutex is created as a result of this call; otherwise, false.
  • name
    Type: System.String
    The name of the Mutex. If the value is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), the Mutex is unnamed.

Exceptions

Exception Condition
UnauthorizedAccessException

The named mutex exists and has access control security, but the user does not have MutexRights.FullControl.
ApplicationException

The named mutex cannot be created, perhaps because a wait handle of a different type has the same name.
ArgumentException

name is longer than 260 characters.

Remarks

If name is not nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) and initiallyOwned is true, the calling thread owns the mutex only if the named system mutex was created as a result of this call. Since there is no mechanism for determining whether the named system mutex was created, it is better to specify false for initiallyOwned when calling this constructor. This constructor initializes a Mutex object that represents a named system mutex. You can create multiple Mutex objects that represent the same named system mutex.

Because they are system-wide, named mutexes can be used to coordinate resource use across process boundaries.

Version Notes

Silverlight for Windows Phone Silverlight for Windows Phone

 In Silverlight for Windows Phone, private object namespaces are not supported. In the .NET Framework, object namespaces are supported and because of this the backslash (\) is considered a delimiter and is not supported in the name parameter. In Silverlight for Windows Phone you can use a backslash (\) in the name parameter.

Version Information

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.