Windows® via C/C++, Fifth Edition

Mutex Kernel Objects

Mutex kernel objects ensure that a thread has mutual exclusive access to a single resource. In fact, this is how the mutex got its name. A mutex object contains a usage count, thread ID, and recursion counter. Mutexes behave identically to critical sections. However, mutexes are kernel objects, while critical sections are user-mode synchronization objects (except if contention is high, as you saw in Chapter 8). This means that mutexes are slower than critical sections. But it also means that threads in different processes can access a single mutex, and it means that a thread can specify a timeout value while waiting to gain access to a resource.

The thread ID identifies which thread in the system currently owns the mutex, and ...