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ReleaseMutex

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This function releases ownership of the specified mutex object.

BOOL ReleaseMutex( 
  HANDLE hMutex 
);

Parameters

  • hMutex
    [in] Handle to the mutex object. The CreateMutex function returns this handle.

Return Values

Nonzero indicates success. Zero indicates failure. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

The ReleaseMutex function fails if the calling thread does not own the mutex object.

A thread gets ownership of a mutex by specifying a handle to the mutex in one of the wait functions. The thread that creates a mutex object can also get immediate ownership without using one of the wait functions. When the owning thread no longer needs to own the mutex object, it calls the ReleaseMutex function.

While a thread has ownership of a mutex, it can specify the same mutex in additional wait-function calls without blocking its execution. This prevents a thread from deadlocking itself while waiting for a mutex that it already owns. However, to release its ownership, the thread must call ReleaseMutex once for each time that the mutex satisfied a wait.

Requirements

OS Versions: Windows CE 1.01 and later.
Header: Winbase.h.
Link Library: Nk.lib.

See Also

CreateMutex

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.