FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE IOCTL (winioctl.h)

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Marks a specified file or directory and its change journal record with information about changes to that file or directory.

To perform this operation, call the DeviceIoControl function using the following parameters.

BOOL DeviceIoControl(
  (HANDLE) hDevice,             // handle to file or directory
  FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE,            // dwIoControlCode
  (LPVOID)lpInBuffer,           // input buffer
  (DWORD)nInBufferSize,         // size of input buffer
  NULL,                         // lpOutBuffer
  0,                            // nOutBufferSize
  (LPDWORD) lpBytesReturned,    // number of bytes returned
  (LPOVERLAPPED) lpOverlapped   // OVERLAPPED structure
);

Remarks

For the implications of overlapped I/O on this operation, see the Remarks section of the DeviceIoControl topic.

FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE is the only change journal operation that operates on an individual file or directory. It does not affect anything the user can do with the item. Instead, it adds information to the file or directory, either providing information on how the operating system changed the item or adding a private data stream to the item.

If there are any changes to the file or directory, then the information added with FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE is also copied into the USN record created for the file or directory. Note that these two operations can occur independently of each other—for example, it is not necessary for a USN record to exist to be able to mark a file as unable to be defragmented and it is not necessary to mark a file or directory to update the contents of the corresponding USN record. For details on the information with which FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE can mark an item (see MARK_HANDLE_INFO for more information).

It is not an error to use FSCTL_MARK_HANDLE while the volume's change journal is being deleted or is inactive. The appropriate information is applied to the file or directory regardless of the state of the change journal, as long as the change journal exists.

Note that the time stamps may not be updated correctly for a remote file. To ensure consistent results, use unbuffered I/O.

The volume must be NTFS.

In Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, this code is supported by the following technologies.

Technology Supported
Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol No
SMB 3.0 Transparent Failover (TFO) No
SMB 3.0 with Scale-out File Shares (SO) No
Cluster Shared Volume File System (CsvFS) Yes

CsvFs always issues USN_SOURCE_REPLICATION_MANAGEMENT and MARK_HANDLE_PROTECT_CLUSTERS for the files eligible for direct IO.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client Windows XP [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps only]
Header winioctl.h (include Windows.h)

See also