Question

The FileShare enumeration offers various flags such as Read, Write, Delete, … . Normally I’d think that sharing a file for deletion only allows deletion but nothing else (like reading).

However, I remotely recall that Windows only differentiates between read-only and full access to files, so actually sharing for deletion allows writing to the file as well. Sadly this is from many years back and I neither found the original source nor any related info. Is there a reliable spec on the actual behavior? Is it dependent on the OS or the FS?

Answer 1

Take a look at the documentation for the CreateFile Function.

FILE_SHARE_DELETE:
Enables subsequent open operations on a file or
device to request delete access. Otherwise, other processes cannot
open the file or device if they request delete access. If this flag is
not specified, but the file or device has been opened for delete
access, the function fails. Note Delete access allows both delete and
rename operations.

The documentation doesn’t mention that read access is allowed, too.