IoWritePartitionTable function (ntddk.h)

Article
04/21/2023

The IoWritePartitionTable routine is obsolete and is provided only to support existing drivers. New drivers must use IoWritePartitionTableEx.

IoWritePartitionTable writes partition tables from the entries in the partition list buffer for each partition on the disk represented by the given device object.

Syntax

NTSTATUS IoWritePartitionTable(
  [in] PDEVICE_OBJECT            DeviceObject,
  [in] ULONG                     SectorSize,
  [in] ULONG                     SectorsPerTrack,
  [in] ULONG                     NumberOfHeads,
  [in] _DRIVE_LAYOUT_INFORMATION *PartitionBuffer
);

Parameters

[in] DeviceObject

Pointer to the device object representing the disk whose partition tables are to be written.

[in] SectorSize

Specifies the size in bytes of sectors on the device.

[in] SectorsPerTrack

Specifies the track size on the device.

[in] NumberOfHeads

Specifies the number of tracks per cylinder.

[in] PartitionBuffer

Pointer to the drive layout buffer that contains the partition list entries. For more detailed information see DRIVE_LAYOUT_INFORMATION.

Return value

IoWritePartitionTablo returns a status code of STATUS_SUCCESS if all writes were completed without error. In case of failure, the error codes returned by IoWritePartitionTable might include, but are not limited to, the following list:

Return code	Description
STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_READY	Indicates a failure read the correct disk geometry.
STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES	Indicates a failure to allocate necessary resources (for example, heap memory, IRPs, etc.).
STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL	Indicates that sector zero did not have the expected MBR disk signature.

Remarks

IoWritePartitionTable must only be used by disk drivers. Other drivers should use the IOCTL_DISK_SET_DRIVE_LAYOUT disk I/O request instead.

IoWritePartitionTable is called when a disk device driver is requested to set the partition type in a partition table entry or to repartition the disk by an IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL request. The device control request is generally issued by the format utility, which performs I/O control functions on the partitions and disks in the machine.

To reset a partition type, the driver passes a pointer to the device object representing the physical disk and the number of the partition associated with the device object that the format utility has open. When a disk is to be repartitioned dynamically, the disk driver must tear down its set of device objects representing the current disk partitions and create a new set of device objects representing the new partitions on the disk.

Applications that create and delete partitions and require full descriptions of the system should call IoReadPartitionTable with ReturnRecognizedPartitions set to FALSE. The drive layout structure can be modified by the system format utility to reflect a new configuration of the disk.

IoWritePartitionTable is synchronous. It must be called by the disk driver's Dispatch routine or by a driver thread. Thus, all user and file system threads must be prepared to enter a wait state when issuing the device control request to reset partition types for the device.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Target Platform	Universal
Header	ntddk.h (include Ntddk.h)
Library	NtosKrnl.lib
DLL	NtosKrnl.exe
IRQL	PASSIVE_LEVEL
DDI compliance rules	HwStorPortProhibitedDDIs(storport), IrqlIoPassive5(wdm), PowerIrpDDis(wdm)