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# MechanismDeactivate

Deactivates an authorization mechanism.

```
int (*)(void *) MechanismDeactivate;
```

## Parameters

`inMechanism`

An authorization mechanism reference that you returned when your [`MechanismCreate`](/documentation/Security/AuthorizationPluginInterface/MechanismCreate) function was called to create the mechanism.

## Return Value

A result code. Return [`errAuthorizationSuccess`](/documentation/Security/errAuthorizationSuccess) (no error) if the function completes successfully and [`errAuthorizationInternal`](/documentation/Security/errAuthorizationInternal) (Security Server internal error) if any error occurs.

## Discussion

The authorization engine calls the [`MechanismDeactivate`](/documentation/Security/AuthorizationPluginInterface/MechanismDeactivate) function of each active mechanism when you call the [`RequestInterrupt`](/documentation/Security/AuthorizationCallbacks/RequestInterrupt) function. To deactivate your mechanism, you must stop any processing that is currently underway; for example, you should terminate any threads or UI processes that you initiated.

After you have terminated all processing, you must call the [`DidDeactivate`](/documentation/Security/AuthorizationCallbacks/DidDeactivate) function; the authorization engine waits for you to call this function before it resumes operation.

---

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