OpenDesktopW function (winuser.h)

Opens the specified desktop object.

Syntax

HDESK OpenDesktopW(
  [in] LPCWSTR     lpszDesktop,
  [in] DWORD       dwFlags,
  [in] BOOL        fInherit,
  [in] ACCESS_MASK dwDesiredAccess
);

Parameters

[in] lpszDesktop

The name of the desktop to be opened. Desktop names are case-insensitive.

This desktop must belong to the current window station.

[in] dwFlags

This parameter can be zero or the following value.

Value Meaning
DF_ALLOWOTHERACCOUNTHOOK
0x0001
Allows processes running in other accounts on the desktop to set hooks in this process.

[in] fInherit

If this value is TRUE, processes created by this process will inherit the handle. Otherwise, the processes do not inherit this handle.

[in] dwDesiredAccess

The access to the desktop. For a list of access rights, see Desktop Security and Access Rights.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the opened desktop. When you are finished using the handle, call the CloseDesktop function to close it.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

The calling process must have an associated window station, either assigned by the system at process creation time or set by the SetProcessWindowStation function.

If the dwDesiredAccess parameter specifies the READ_CONTROL, WRITE_DAC, or WRITE_OWNER standard access rights, you must also request the DESKTOP_READOBJECTS and DESKTOP_WRITEOBJECTS access rights.

Note

The winuser.h header defines OpenDesktop as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform Windows
Header winuser.h (include Windows.h)
Library User32.lib
DLL User32.dll
API set ext-ms-win-ntuser-windowstation-ansi-l1-1-1 (introduced in Windows 10, version 10.0.14393)

See also

CloseDesktop

CreateDesktop

Desktops

OpenInputDesktop

SetProcessWindowStation

SetThreadDesktop

SwitchDesktop

Window Station and Desktop Functions