System Error 0x5: CreateFileMapping()

Bunkai.Satori picture Bunkai.Satori · Oct 22, 2010 · Viewed 16.6k times · Source

I wish to implement IPC using Named Shared Memory.

To do this, one of the steps is getting a handle to a Mapping Memory Object, using CreateFileMapping().

I do it exactly as MSDN website reccommends: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366551(v=VS.85).aspx:

hFileMappingHandle = CreateFileMapping
    (
        INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,      // use paging file
        NULL,                      // default security 
        PAGE_READWRITE,            // read/write access
        0,            // maximum object size (high-order DWORD) 
        256,            // maximum object size (low-order DWORD)  
        "Global\\MyFileMappingObject"          // name of mapping object
    ); 
DWORD dwError = GetLastError();

However, the handle returned is always 0x0, and the System Error Code returned is: 0x5 (Access Denied.)

  • Only Named Memory Sharing desired (not file sharing).
  • Windows 7 x64 bit OS
  • Administrator's user rights available
  • Developed Application: 64bit Plug-In application (.dll)

Does anybody have the same experience, and a way to fix it, please? I use MSDN site as my reference, so I to not think, there is problem in the code.

Answer

Eugene Mayevski 'Callback picture Eugene Mayevski 'Callback · Oct 22, 2010

Looks like you don't have enough privileges.

From MSDN:

Creating a file mapping object in the global namespace from a session other than session zero requires the SeCreateGlobalPrivilege privilege. For more information, see Kernel Object Namespaces.

...

The creation of a file-mapping object in the global namespace, by using CreateFileMapping, from a session other than session zero is a privileged operation. Because of this, an application running in an arbitrary Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server session must have SeCreateGlobalPrivilege enabled in order to create a file-mapping object in the global namespace successfully. The privilege check is limited to the creation of file-mapping objects, and does not apply to opening existing ones. For example, if a service or the system creates a file-mapping object, any process running in any session can access that file-mapping object provided that the user has the necessary access.