Looking at the implementation in boost 1.57, it looks like a file is used on Windows for named_mutex (see windows_named_sync::open_or_create(...)). I didn't see any alternatives for named_mutex on Windows that would allow you to use actual shared memory with no files... Shayne -----Original Message----- From: Boost-users [mailto:boost-users-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Rob Conde Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 1:56 PM To: boost-users@lists.boost.org Subject: [Boost-users] [boost][interprocess] named_mutex/named_condition using windows shared memory For boost interprocess shared memory, I can choose to use windows specific shared memory so that no files are created to emulate the functionality. Is there any way to do this with named_mutexes and named_conditions? Thanks, Rob Conde