I appear to have a named pipes 101 issue. I have a very simple set up to connect a simplex named pipe transmitting from a C++ unmanaged app to a C# managed app. The pipe connects, but I cannot send a "message" through the pipe unless I close the handle which appears to flush the buffer and pass the message through. It's like the message is blocked. I have tried reversing the roles of client/server and invoking them with different Flag combinations without any luck. I can easily send messages in the other direction from C# managed to C++ unmanaged. Does anyone have any insight. Can any of you guys successfully send messages from C++ unmanaged to C# managed? I can find plenty of examples of intra amanged or unmanaged pipes but not inter managed to/from unamanged - just claims to be able to do it. In the listings, I have omitted much of the wrapper stuff for clarity. The key bits I believe that are relevant are the pipe connection/creation/read and write methods. Don't worry too much about blocking/threading here. C# Server side // This runs in its own thread and so it is OK to block private void ConnectToClient() { // This server will listen to the sending client if (m_InPipeStream == null) { m_InPipeStream = new NamedPipeServerStream("TestPipe", PipeDirection.In, 1); } // Wait for client to connect to our server m_InPipeStream.WaitForConnection(); // Verify client is running if (!m_InPipeStream.IsConnected) { return; } // Start listening for messages on the client stream if (m_InPipeStream != null && m_InPipeStream.CanRead) { ReadThread = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(Read)); ReadThread.Start(m_InPipeStream); } } // This runs in its own thread and so it is OK to block private void Read(object serverObj) { NamedPipeServerStream pipeStream = (NamedPipeServerStream)serverObj; using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(pipeStream)) { while (true) { string buffer = "" ; try { // Blocks here until the handle is closed by the client-side!! buffer = sr.ReadLine(); // <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Sticks here } catch { // Read error break; } // Client has disconnected? if (buffer == null || buffer.Length == 0) break; // Fire message received event if message is non-empty if (MessageReceived != null && buffer != "") { MessageReceived(buffer); } } } } C++ client side // Static - running in its own thread. DWORD CNamedPipe::ListenForServer(LPVOID arg) { // The calling app (this) is passed as the parameter CNamedPipe* app = (CNamedPipe*)arg; // Out-Pipe: connect as a client to a waiting server app->m_hOutPipeHandle = CreateFile("\\\\.\\pipe\\TestPipe", GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL); // Could not create handle if (app->m_hInPipeHandle == NULL || app->m_hInPipeHandle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { return 1; } return 0; } // Sends a message to the server BOOL CNamedPipe::SendMessage(CString message) { DWORD dwSent; if (m_hOutPipeHandle == NULL || m_hOutPipeHandle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { return FALSE; } else { BOOL bOK = WriteFile(m_hOutPipeHandle, message, message.GetLength()+1, &dwSent, NULL); //FlushFileBuffers(m_hOutPipeHandle); // <<<<<<< Tried this return (!bOK || (message.GetLength()+1) != dwSent) ? FALSE : TRUE; } } // Somewhere in the Windows C++/MFC code... ... // This write is non-blocking. It just passes through having loaded the pipe. m_pNamedPipe->SendMessage("Hi de hi"); ...