FILE_OBJECT structure (wdm.h)
The FILE_OBJECT structure is used by the system to represent a file object. To user-mode protected subsystems, a file object represents an open instance of a file, device, directory, or volume. To device and intermediate drivers, a file object usually represents a device object. To drivers in the file system stack, a file object usually represents a directory or file.
A file object is partially opaque. Certain types of drivers, such as file system drivers and network transport drivers, use some of the fields of file objects.
Syntax
typedef struct _FILE_OBJECT {
CSHORT Type;
CSHORT Size;
PDEVICE_OBJECT DeviceObject;
PVPB Vpb;
PVOID FsContext;
PVOID FsContext2;
PSECTION_OBJECT_POINTERS SectionObjectPointer;
PVOID PrivateCacheMap;
NTSTATUS FinalStatus;
struct _FILE_OBJECT *RelatedFileObject;
BOOLEAN LockOperation;
BOOLEAN DeletePending;
BOOLEAN ReadAccess;
BOOLEAN WriteAccess;
BOOLEAN DeleteAccess;
BOOLEAN SharedRead;
BOOLEAN SharedWrite;
BOOLEAN SharedDelete;
ULONG Flags;
UNICODE_STRING FileName;
LARGE_INTEGER CurrentByteOffset;
__volatile ULONG Waiters;
__volatile ULONG Busy;
PVOID LastLock;
KEVENT Lock;
KEVENT Event;
__volatile PIO_COMPLETION_CONTEXT CompletionContext;
KSPIN_LOCK IrpListLock;
LIST_ENTRY IrpList;
__volatile _IOP_FILE_OBJECT_EXTENSION *FileObjectExtension;
struct _IOP_FILE_OBJECT_EXTENSION;
} FILE_OBJECT, *PFILE_OBJECT;
Members
Type
A read-only member used by the system to indicate that the object is a file object. If the object is a file object, the value of this member is 5.
Size
A read-only member that specifies the size, in bytes, of the file object. This size does not include the file object extension, if one is present.
DeviceObject
A pointer to the device object on which the file is opened.
Vpb
A pointer to the volume parameter block associated with the file object.
Note that if the Vpb member is non-NULL, the file resides on a mounted volume.
FsContext
A pointer to whatever optional state a driver maintains about the file object; otherwise, NULL. For file system drivers, this member must point to a FSRTL_ADVANCED_FCB_HEADER header structure that is contained within a file-system-specific structure; otherwise system instability can result. Usually, this header structure is embedded in a file control block (FCB). However, on some file systems that support multiple data streams, such as NTFS, this header structure is a stream control block (SCB).
In a WDM device stack, only the functional device object (FDO) can use the two context pointers. File system drivers share this member across multiple opens to the same data stream.
FsContext2
A pointer to whatever additional state a driver maintains about the file object; otherwise, NULL.
This member is opaque for drivers in the file system stack because the underlying file system utilizes this member.
SectionObjectPointer
A pointer to the file object's read-only section object. This member is set only by file systems and used for Cache Manager interaction.
PrivateCacheMap
An opaque member, set only by file systems, that points to handle-specific information and that is used for Cache Manager interaction.
FinalStatus
A read-only member that is used, in certain synchronous cases, to indicate the final status of the file object's I/O request.
RelatedFileObject
A pointer to a FILE_OBJECT structure used to indicate that the current file object has been opened relative to an already open file object. The file object pointed to by this member is usually a directory (meaning the current file has been opened relative to this directory). However, a file can be reopened relative to itself, and alternate data streams for a file can be opened relative to an already open primary data stream for that same file. The RelatedFileObject member is only valid during the processing of the IRP_MJ_CREATE requests.
LockOperation
A read-only member. If FALSE, a lock operation (NtLockFile) has never been performed on the file object. If TRUE, at least one lock operation has been performed on the file object. Once set to TRUE, this member always remains TRUE (for example, releasing file locks on the file object does not reset this member to FALSE).
DeletePending
A read-only member. If TRUE, a delete operation for the file associated with the file object exists. If FALSE, there currently is no pending delete operation for the file object.
ReadAccess
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for read access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without read access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
WriteAccess
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for write access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without write access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
DeleteAccess
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for delete access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without delete access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
SharedRead
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for read sharing access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without read sharing access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
SharedWrite
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for write sharing access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without write sharing access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
SharedDelete
A read-only member. If TRUE, the file associated with the file object has been opened for delete sharing access. If FALSE, the file has been opened without delete sharing access. This information is used when checking and/or setting the share access of the file.
Flags
A read-only member used by the system to hold one or more (a bitwise inclusive OR combination) of the following private flag values.
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
| FO_FILE_OPEN | Deprecated. |
| FO_SYNCHRONOUS_IO | The file object is opened for synchronous I/O. |
| FO_ALERTABLE_IO | Any wait in the I/O manager, as a result of a request made to this file object, is alertable. |
| FO_NO_INTERMEDIATE_BUFFERING | The file associated with the file object cannot be cached or buffered in a driver's internal buffers. |
| FO_WRITE_THROUGH | System services, file system drivers, and drivers that write data to the file must transfer the data into the file before any requested write operation is considered complete. |
| FO_SEQUENTIAL_ONLY | The file associated with the file object was opened for sequential I/O operations only. |
| FO_CACHE_SUPPORTED | The file associated with the file object is cacheable. This flag should be set only by a file system driver, and only if the FsContext member points to a valid FSRTL_ADVANCED_FCB_HEADER structure. |
| FO_NAMED_PIPE | The file object represents a named pipe. |
| FO_STREAM_FILE | The file object represents a file stream. |
| FO_MAILSLOT | The file object represents a mailslot. |
| FO_GENERATE_AUDIT_ON_CLOSE | Deprecated. |
| FO_QUEUE_IRP_TO_THREAD | IRPs will not be queued to this file object. |
| FO_DIRECT_DEVICE_OPEN | The device targeted by this file object was opened directly. |
| FO_FILE_MODIFIED | The file associated with the file object has been modified. |
| FO_FILE_SIZE_CHANGED | The file associated with the file object has changed in size. |
| FO_CLEANUP_COMPLETE | The file system has completed its cleanup for this file object. |
| FO_TEMPORARY_FILE | The file associated with the file object is a temporary file. |
| FO_DELETE_ON_CLOSE | The file associated with the file object will be deleted by the file system upon close. |
| FO_OPENED_CASE_SENSITIVE | The file name case of the file associated with the file object is respected. |
| FO_HANDLE_CREATED | A file handle was created for file object. |
| FO_FILE_FAST_IO_READ | A fast I/O read was performed on this file object. |
| FO_RANDOM_ACCESS | The file associated with the file object was opened for random access. |
| FO_FILE_OPEN_CANCELLED | The create request for this file object was canceled before completing. |
| FO_VOLUME_OPEN | The file object represents a volume open request. |
| FO_REMOTE_ORIGIN | The create request for the file associated with the file object originated on a remote machine. |
| FO_SKIP_COMPLETION_PORT | For a file object associated with a port, determines if the system should skip queuing to the completion port when the IRP is completed synchronously with a non-error status return value. |
| FO_SKIP_SET_EVENT | Skip setting the event for the file object upon IRP completion. |
| FO_SKIP_SET_FAST_IO | Skip setting an event supplied to a system service when the fast I/O path is successful. |
FileName
A UNICODE_STRING structure whose Buffer member points to a read-only Unicode string that holds the name of the file opened on the volume. If the volume is being opened, the Length member of the UNICODE_STRING structure will be zero. Note that the file name in this string is valid only during the initial processing of an IRP_MJ_CREATE request. This file name should not be considered valid after the file system starts to process the IRP_MJ_CREATE request. The storage for the string pointed to by the Buffer member of the UNICODE_STRING structure is allocated in paged system memory. For more information about obtaining a file name, see FltGetFileNameInformation.
CurrentByteOffset
A read-only member that specifies the file offset, in bytes, associated with the file object.
Waiters
A read-only member used by the system to count the number of outstanding waiters on a file object opened for synchronous access.
Busy
A read-only member used by the system to indicate whether a file object opened for synchronous access is currently busy.
LastLock
An opaque pointer to the last lock applied to the file object.
Lock
An opaque member used by the system to hold a file object event lock. The event lock is used to control synchronous access to the file object. Applicable only to file objects that are opened for synchronous access.
Event
An opaque member used by the system to hold an event object for the file object. The event object is used to signal the completion of an I/O request on the file object if no user event was supplied or a synchronous API was called.
CompletionContext
An opaque pointer to completion port information (port pointer and key) associated with the file object, if any.
IrpListLock
An opaque pointer to a KSPIN_LOCK structure that serves as the spin lock used to synchronize access to the file object's IRP list.
IrpList
An opaque pointer to the head of the IRP list associated with the file object.
FileObjectExtension
An opaque pointer to the file object's file object extension (FOBX) structure. The FOBX structure contains various opaque contexts used internally as well as the per-file object contexts available through FsRtlXxx routines.
_IOP_FILE_OBJECT_EXTENSION
A _IOP_FILE_OBJECT_EXTENSION structure.
Remarks
Drivers can use the FsContext and FsContext2 members to maintain driver-determined state about an open file object. A driver cannot use these members unless the file object is accessible in the driver's I/O stack location of an IRP.
All remaining members in a file object are either opaque or read-only:
Opaque members within a file object should be considered inaccessible. Drivers with dependencies on object field locations or access to opaque members might not remain portable and interoperable with other drivers over time.
Drivers can use read-only members to acquire relevant information but must not modify read-only members and, if a pointer, the object that the member points to.
During the processing of an IRP_MJ_CREATE request, a file system driver calls the IoSetShareAccess routine (if the client is the first to open the file) or the IoCheckShareAccess routine (for subsequent clients that want to share the file). IoSetShareAccess and IoCheckShareAccess update the ReadAccess, WriteAccess, and DeleteAccess members to indicate the access rights that are granted to the client if the client has exclusive access to the file. Additionally, IoCheckShareAccess updates the SharedRead, SharedWrite, and SharedDelete members to indicate the access rights that are simultaneously granted to two or more clients that share the file. If the driver for a device other than a file system has to monitor the access rights of clients, this driver typically stores access rights information in context buffers that are pointed to by the FsContext and FsContext2 members.
The type of object (for example, a file, directory, or volume) that a given file object represents cannot be determined by only examining the contents of the file object structure. For information about how to determine the type of object that a file object represents, see ZwQueryInformationFile.
The Common Log File System (CLFS) uses the LOG_FILE_OBJECT structure to represent logs. The ClfsCreateLogFile function returns a pointer to a LOG_FILE_OBJECT structure, which clients then pass to other CLFS functions.
CLFS clients do not directly access the members of a LOG_FILE_OBJECT structure.
typedef FILE_OBJECT LOG_FILE_OBJECT, *PLOG_FILE_OBJECT, **PPLOG_FILE_OBJECT;
Requirements
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Header | wdm.h (include Wdm.h, Ntddk.h, Ntifs.h, Fltkernel.h) |