IoDeleteDevice function (wdm.h)

The IoDeleteDevice routine removes a device object from the system, for example, when the underlying device is removed from the system.

Syntax

void IoDeleteDevice(
  [in] PDEVICE_OBJECT DeviceObject
);

Parameters

[in] DeviceObject

Pointer to the device object to be deleted.

Return value

None

Remarks

When handling a PnP IRP_MN_REMOVE_DEVICE request, a PnP driver calls IoDeleteDevice to delete any associated device objects. See Handling an IRP_MN_REMOVE_DEVICE Request for details.

A legacy driver should call this routine when it is being unloaded or when its DriverEntry routine encounters a fatal initialization error, such as being unable to properly initialize a physical device. This routine also is called when a driver reconfigures its devices dynamically. For example, a disk driver called to repartition a disk would call IoDeleteDevice to tear down the device objects representing partitions to be replaced.

A driver must release certain resources for which the driver supplied storage in its device extension before it calls IoDeleteDevice. For example, if the driver stores the pointer to its interrupt object(s) in the device extension, it must call IoDisconnectInterrupt before calling IoDeleteDevice.

A driver can call IoDeleteDevice only once for a given device object.

When a driver calls IoDeleteDevice, the I/O manager deletes the target device object if there are no outstanding references to it. However, if any outstanding references remain, the I/O manager marks the device object as "delete pending" and deletes the device object when the references are released.

Requirements

See also

IoCreateDevice

IoDisconnectInterrupt