Windows Programming Interview Questions And Answers

What are types of kernel objects?
Several types of kernel objects, such as access token objects, event objects, file objects, file-mapping objects, I/O completion port objects, job objects, mailslot objects, mutex objects, pipe objects, process objects, semaphore objects, thread objects, and waitable timer objects.

What is a kernel object?
Each kernel object is simply a memory block allocated by the kernel and is accessible only by the kernel. This memory block is a data structure whose members maintain information about the object. Some members (security descriptor, usage count, and so on) are the same across all object types, but most are specific to a particular object type. For example, a process object has a process ID, a base priority, and an exit code, whereas a file object has a byte offset, a sharing mode, and an open mode.

User can access these kernel objects structures?
Kernel object data structures are accessible only by the kernel

If we cannot alter these Kernel Object structures directly, how do our applications manipulate these kernel objects?
The answer is that Windows offers a set of functions that manipulate these structures in well-defined ways. These kernel objects are always accessible via these functions. When you call a function that creates a kernel object, the function returns a handle that identifies the object.

How owns the Kernel Object?
Kernel objects are owned by the kernel, not by a process

How does the kernel object outlive the process that created it?
If your process calls a function that creates a kernel object and then your process terminates, the kernel object is not necessarily destroyed. Under most circumstances, the object will be destroyed; but if another process is using the kernel object your process created, the kernel knows not to destroy the object until the other process has stopped using it

How to identify the difference between the kernel object and user object?
The easiest way to determine whether an object is a kernel object is to examine the function that creates the object. Almost all functions that create kernel objects have a parameter that allows you to specify security attribute information.

What is the purpose of Process Handle Table?
When a process is initialized, the system allocates a handle table for it. This handle table is used only for kernel objects, not for User objects or GDI objects. When a process first initializes, its handle table is empty. Then when a thread in the process calls a function that creates a kernel object, such as CreateFileMapping , the kernel allocates a block of memory for the object and initializes it; the kernel then scans the process's handle table for an empty entry

Name few functions that create Kernel Objects?
HANDLE CreateThread(…),HANDLE CreateFile(..),HANDLE CreateFileMapping(..)HANDLE CreateSemaphore(..)etcAll functions that create kernel objects return process-relative handles that can be used successfully by any and all threads that are running in the same process.

What is handle?
Handle value is actually the index into the process's handle table that identifies where the kernel object's information is stored.

How the handle helps in manipulating the kernel objects?
Whenever you call a function that accepts a kernel object handle as an argument, you pass the value returned by one of the Create* functions. Internally, the function looks in your process's handle table to get the address of the kernel object you want to manipulate and then manipulates the object's data structure in a well-defined fashion.