Object Manager

An object consists of a standard header and object-specific attributes. Because all objects have the same structure, there is a single object manager in Windows that maintains all objects.

The object header includes items such as the object name, so that other processes can reference the object by name, and a security descriptor, so that the object manager can control which processes access the system resource.

The tasks that the object manager performs include the following:

  • Creating objects
  • Verifying that a process has the right to use the object
  • Creating object handles and returning them to the caller
  • Maintaining resource quotas
  • Creating duplicate handles
  • Closing handles to objects