Debug system error codes

Article
02/08/2022

This section is intended for developers who are debugging system errors. If you reached this page while searching for other errors, here are some links that might help:

Windows Update errors - For help resolving issues with Windows Update.
Windows activation errors - For help verifying your copy of Windows.
Troubleshooting blue screen errors - For help discovering what caused a stop error.
Microsoft Support - For support with a Microsoft product.

More ways to find an error code

We've listed the system error codes in this section, organized by number. If you need more help tracking down a specific error, here are some more recommendations:

Use the Microsoft Error Lookup Tool.
Install the Debugging Tools for Windows, load a memory dump file, and then run the !err <code> command.
Search the Microsoft Protocols site for the raw text or error code. For more information, see [MS-ERREF]: Windows Error Codes.

Third party error codes

Other error codes may be generated by third party services or apps (for example, Error Code: -118 may be displayed by the Steam game service) and in those situations you would contact the third party's support line.

System Error Codes

System Error Codes are very broad: each one can occur in one of many hundreds of locations in the system. Consequently, the descriptions of these codes cannot be very specific. Use of these codes requires some amount of investigation and analysis. You need to note both the programmatic and the runtime context in which these errors occur.

Because these codes are defined in WinError.h for anyone to use, sometimes the codes are returned by non-system software. And sometimes the code is returned by a function deep in the stack and far removed from code that is handling the error.

The following topics provide lists of system error codes. These values are defined in the WinError.h header file.