6.3. Device Namespace
The device namespace has evolved over the years with different versions of the Windows NT operating system. To allow backward compatibility, the new namespace is joined with the old namespace via symbolic links. In addition, kernel mode drivers create a namespace in kernel mode, using the services of the Object Manager. User mode applications see a different namespace, and the two are logically mapped to each other via symbolic links. Staying on top of the namespace issues is not an easy task. This section takes a humble stab at enumerating most of the storage-related important device names created.
The disk class driver creates device objects to represent each physical disk. These objects are named in the format “\device\harddiskX,” ...
Get Inside Windows Storage: Server Storage Technologies for Windows® 2000, Windows® Server 2003, and Beyond now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
