MoveFileTransactedA function (winbase.h)

[Microsoft strongly recommends developers utilize alternative means to achieve your application’s needs. Many scenarios that TxF was developed for can be achieved through simpler and more readily available techniques. Furthermore, TxF may not be available in future versions of Microsoft Windows. For more information, and alternatives to TxF, please see Alternatives to using Transactional NTFS.]

Moves an existing file or a directory, including its children, as a transacted operation.

Syntax

BOOL MoveFileTransactedA(
  [in]           LPCSTR             lpExistingFileName,
  [in, optional] LPCSTR             lpNewFileName,
  [in, optional] LPPROGRESS_ROUTINE lpProgressRoutine,
  [in, optional] LPVOID             lpData,
  [in]           DWORD              dwFlags,
  [in]           HANDLE             hTransaction
);

Parameters

[in] lpExistingFileName

The current name of the existing file or directory on the local computer.

By default, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to 32,767 wide characters, prepend "\\?\" to the path. For more information, see Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces.

Tip

Starting with Windows 10, Version 1607, you can opt-in to remove the MAX_PATH limitation without prepending "\\?\". See the "Maximum Path Length Limitation" section of Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces for details.

[in, optional] lpNewFileName

The new name for the file or directory. The new name must not already exist. A new file may be on a different file system or drive. A new directory must be on the same drive.

By default, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to 32,767 wide characters, prepend "\\?\" to the path. For more information, see Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces.

Tip

Starting with Windows 10, Version 1607, you can opt-in to remove the MAX_PATH limitation without prepending "\\?\". See the "Maximum Path Length Limitation" section of Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces for details.

[in, optional] lpProgressRoutine

A pointer to a CopyProgressRoutine callback function that is called each time another portion of the file has been moved. The callback function can be useful if you provide a user interface that displays the progress of the operation. This parameter can be NULL.

[in, optional] lpData

An argument to be passed to the CopyProgressRoutine callback function. This parameter can be NULL.

[in] dwFlags

The move options. This parameter can be one or more of the following values.

Value	Meaning
MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED 2 (0x2)	If the file is to be moved to a different volume, the function simulates the move by using the CopyFile and DeleteFile functions. If the file is successfully copied to a different volume and the original file is unable to be deleted, the function succeeds leaving the source file intact. This value cannot be used with MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT.
MOVEFILE_CREATE_HARDLINK 16 (0x10)	Reserved for future use.
MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT 4 (0x4)	The system does not move the file until the operating system is restarted. The system moves the file immediately after AUTOCHK is executed, but before creating any paging files. Consequently, this parameter enables the function to delete paging files from previous startups. This value can only be used if the process is in the context of a user who belongs to the administrators group or the LocalSystem account. This value cannot be used with MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED. The write operation to the registry value as detailed in the Remarks section is what is transacted. The file move is finished when the computer restarts, after the transaction is complete.
MOVEFILE_REPLACE_EXISTING 1 (0x1)	If a file named lpNewFileName exists, the function replaces its contents with the contents of the lpExistingFileName file. This value cannot be used if lpNewFileName or lpExistingFileName names a directory.
MOVEFILE_WRITE_THROUGH 8 (0x8)	A call to MoveFileTransacted means that the move file operation is complete when the commit operation is completed. This flag is unnecessary; there are no negative affects if this flag is specified, other than an operation slowdown. The function does not return until the file has actually been moved on the disk. Setting this value guarantees that a move performed as a copy and delete operation is flushed to disk before the function returns. The flush occurs at the end of the copy operation. This value has no effect if MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT is set.

[in] hTransaction

A handle to the transaction. This handle is returned by the CreateTransaction function.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

When moving a file across volumes, if lpProgressRoutine returns PROGRESS_CANCEL due to the user canceling the operation, MoveFileTransacted will return zero and GetLastError will return ERROR_REQUEST_ABORTED. The existing file is left intact.

When moving a file across volumes, if lpProgressRoutine returns PROGRESS_STOP due to the user stopping the operation, MoveFileTransacted will return zero and GetLastError will return ERROR_REQUEST_ABORTED. The existing file is left intact.

Remarks

If the dwFlags parameter specifies MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT, MoveFileTransacted fails if it cannot access the registry. The function transactionally stores the locations of the files to be renamed at restart in the following registry value: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations

This registry value is of type REG_MULTI_SZ. Each rename operation stores one of the following NULL-terminated strings, depending on whether the rename is a delete or not:

szDstFile\0\0

szSrcFile\0szDstFile\0

The string szDstFile\0\0 indicates that the file szDstFile is to be deleted on reboot.

The string szSrcFile\0szDstFile\0 indicates that szSrcFile is to be renamed szDstFile on reboot.

Note  Although \0\0 is technically not allowed in a REG_MULTI_SZ node, it can because the file is considered to be renamed to a null name.

 

The system uses these registry entries to complete the operations at restart in the same order that they were issued. For more information about using the MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT flag, see MoveFileWithProgress.

If a file is moved across volumes, MoveFileTransacted does not move the security descriptor with the file. The file is assigned the default security descriptor in the destination directory.

This function always fails if you specify the MOVEFILE_FAIL_IF_NOT_TRACKABLE flag; tracking is not supported by TxF.

In Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, this function is supported by the following technologies.

Technology	Supported
Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol	No
SMB 3.0 Transparent Failover (TFO)	No
SMB 3.0 with Scale-out File Shares (SO)	No
Cluster Shared Volume File System (CsvFS)	No
Resilient File System (ReFS)	No

 

SMB 3.0 does not support TxF.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows Vista [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2008 [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winbase.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll

See also

CopyFileTransacted

File Management Functions

MoveFileWithProgress

Transactional NTFS