An access mask is a 32 bit value with the bits as shown in the following table.
| Bits 31-28 | Bits 27-25 | Bit 24 | Bits 23-16 | Bits 15-0 |
| Generic rights | Reserved Bits | System access | Standard rights | Specific rights |
Generic access rights apply to all object types. generic access enumerators are as follows.
| generic_read | 0x80000000 | Generic read access. |
| generic_write | 0x40000000 | Generic write access. |
| generic_execute | 0x20000000 | Generic execute access. |
| all_generic | 0x10000000 | Complete generic access. |
When generic access to an object is requested, the generic flags are mapped to standard and specific access rights. The class generic may be used to perform this mapping.