Using SetFileInformationByHandle to rename a file but it is deleted instead - winapi

Question

I am using the SetFileInformationByHandle() function to rename a file.
I passed in FileRenameInfo with ReplaceIfExists = TRUE (a member of the FILE_RENAME_INFORMATION structure), but instead of renaming the file, it is deleting the file. I do not see any renamed file, and I do not get any error from the function call.

Answer 1

I recommend that you check whether the parameters in FileRenameInfo are set correctly. Incorrect settings can cause the rename process to be deleted accidentally.
Here is a sample of using SetFileInformationByHandle to rename a file:
#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
auto const& filepath = L"D:\\test\\file.txt";
auto const& destpath = L"D:\\test\\other.txt";
auto const f_handle = CreateFile(filepath,
GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE | DELETE,
0,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
NULL);
if (f_handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
{
auto const err = GetLastError();
std::cerr << "failed to open: " << err;
return err;
}
auto const destpath_bytes_with_null = sizeof(destpath);
auto const struct_size = sizeof(FILE_RENAME_INFO) + destpath_bytes_with_null;
FILE_RENAME_INFO* fri = (FILE_RENAME_INFO*)new BYTE[struct_size];
fri->ReplaceIfExists = TRUE;
fri->FileNameLength = destpath_bytes_with_null;
fri->RootDirectory = NULL;
std::memcpy(fri->FileName, destpath, destpath_bytes_with_null);
BOOL res = SetFileInformationByHandle(f_handle, FileRenameInfo,
fri, struct_size);
if (!res)
{
auto const err = GetLastError();
std::cerr << "failed to rename file: " << err;
return err;
}
else
std::cout << "success";
}