Windows Errors – What They Mean and How to Resolve Them

When your Windows computer crashes, you’re automatically redirected to a blue screen or an error screen commonly called “the blue screen of death.” This screen displays important information regarding your system and shows stop code details on why your computer crashed.

These stop codes represent a great starting point for fixing a Windows error. Here, we’ll discuss the most common types of Windows error codes, explain what they mean, and show you how to resolve them.

Different Types of Errors in Windows

Many Windows users agree the operating system isn’t particularly buggy. Still, you can come across thousands of error codes. Error codes could be related to hardware or driver issues, storage problems, denied access, invalid address, etc. Some codes have been around since Windows XP, while others appeared with the more recent versions of the operating system.

The error message that appears on the screen tells you about the type of error. You can use this to find the best solution for resolving the issue and regaining control over your device with the Windows operating system.

List of Common Windows Error Codes

Here’s a list of the most common Windows operating system error codes and their meaning. As a Windows user, you can rely on it as the first step to solving the issue.

• ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION (1) – There’s an incorrect function.
• ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND (2) – If you see this code, it means your system can’t find the file specified.
• ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND (3) – This error code shows the system can’t find the path you specified.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_OPEN_FILES (4) – The system can’t open the desired file.
• ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE (6) – The code indicates the handle is invalid.
• ERROR_ARENA_TRASHED (7) – Storage control blocks were destroyed.
• ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY (8) – Your computer doesn’t have enough storage to process a command.
• ERROR_INVALID_BLOCK (9) – The storage control block address isn’t valid.
• ERROR_BAD_FORMAT (11) – This code shows that your computer tried to load a program that has an incorrect format.
• ERROR_INVALID_DATA (13) – This one appears when the data isn’t valid.
• ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY (14) – Your computer doesn’t have enough storage to complete the operation.
• ERROR_INVALID_DRIVE (15) – Your system can’t locate the specified drive.
• ERROR_CURRENT_DIRECTORY (16) – This code shows the directory can’t be removed.
• ERROR_NOT_SAME_DEVICE (17) – If you see this code, it means your system can’t move the file to another disk drive.
• ERROR_NO_MORE_FILES (18) – This code indicates there are no more files.
• ERROR_WRITE_PROTECT (19) – The selected file is write-protected.
• ERROR_BAD_UNIT (20) – Your computer can’t locate the specified device.
• ERROR_BAD_COMMAND (22) – The command isn’t recognized by the device.
• ERROR_CRC (23) – There’s a data error (cyclic redundancy check).
• ERROR_BAD_LENGTH (24) – The program issued a command, but its length isn’t correct.
• ERROR_SEEK (25) – The drive can’t find the specific track or area on the disk.
• ERROR_NOT_DOS_DISK (26) – The computer can’t access the specified disk or diskette.
• ERROR_SECTOR_NOT_FOUND (27) – The drive can’t locate the requested sector.
• ERROR_WRITE_FAULT (29) – Your system can’t write to the specified device.
• ERROR_READ_FAULT (30) – Your system can’t read from the specified device.
• ERROR_GEN_FAILURE (31) – The device attached to your system isn’t working.
• ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION (32) – The process can’t access the file because another process is using it.
• ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION (33) – The process can’t access the file because another process has locked a part of it.
• ERROR_WRONG_DISK (34) – This indicates the wrong diskette is in the drive.
• ERROR_SHARING_BUFFER_EXCEEDED (36) – Too many files are open for sharing.
• ERROR_HANDLE_EOF (38) – The computer has reached the end of the file.
• ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED (50) – The network request isn’t supported.
• ERROR_REM_NOT_LIST (51) – The remote computer isn’t available.
• ERROR_DUP_NAME (52) – There’s a duplicate name on the same network.
• ERROR_BAD_NETPATH (53) – The network path wasn’t located.
• ERROR_NETWORK_BUSY (54) – This code appears when the network is busy.
• ERROR_DEV_NOT_EXIST (55) – The specified network resource or device isn’t available anymore.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_CMDS (56) – You’ve reached the network BIOS command limit.
• ERROR_ADAP_HDW_ERR (57) – There’s a network adapter hardware error.
• ERROR_BAD_NET_RESP (58) – The requested operation can’t be performed by the specified server.
• ERROR_UNEXP_NET_ERR (59) – An unexpected network error occurred.
• ERROR_BAD_REM_ADAP (60) – The remote adapter isn’t compatible.
• ERROR_PRINTQ_FULL (61) – The printer queue is full.
• ERROR_NO_SPOOL_SPACE (62) – The server doesn’t have available space to store the file waiting to be printed.
• ERROR_PRINT_CANCELED (63) – The file waiting to be printed was deleted.
• ERROR_NETNAME_DELETED (64) – The specified network name isn’t available anymore.
• ERROR_BAD_DEV_TYPE (66) – The network resource type isn’t correct.
• ERROR_BAD_NET_NAME (67) – The network name can’t be found.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_NAMES (68) – You’ve exceeded the name limit for the local computer network adapter card.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_SESS (69) – The network BIOS session limit was exceeded.
• ERROR_SHARING_PAUSED (70) – The remote server is in the process of being started or has been paused.
• ERROR_REQ_NOT_ACCEP (71) – There are already as many connections as this computer can accept, so no more connections can be made to the remote computer.
• ERROR_REDIR_PAUSED (72) – The specific disk device or printer has been paused.
• ERROR_FILE_EXISTS (80) – The particular file exists.
• ERROR_CANNOT_MAKE (82) – The file or directory can’t be created.
• ERROR_FAIL_I24 (83) – There’s a fail on INT 24.
• ERROR_OUT_OF_STRUCTURES (84) – There’s no available storage to process the request.
• ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED (85) – The local device name is in use already.
• ERROR_INVALID_PASSWORD (86) – The specified network password isn’t correct.
• ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER (87) – This code indicates the parameter isn’t correct.
• ERROR_NET_WRITE_FAULT (88) – A write fault occurred on the network.
• ERROR_NO_PROC_SLOTS (89) – Your system can’t begin another process at the moment.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_SEMAPHORES (100) – Can’t create another system semaphore.
• ERROR_EXCL_SEM_ALREADY_OWNED (101) – Another process owns the exclusive semaphore.
• ERROR_SEM_IS_SET (102) – The semaphore is set and can’t be closed.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_SEM_REQUESTS (103) – The semaphore can’t be set again.
• ERROR_INVALID_AT_INTERRUPT_TIME (104) – You can’t request exclusive semaphores at interrupt time.
• ERROR_SEM_OWNER_DIED (105) – The previous semaphore’s ownership has ended.
• ERROR_DISK_CHANGE (107) – An alternate diskette wasn’t inserted, so the program stopped.
• ERROR_DRIVE_LOCKED (108) – Another process is using or has locked the disk.
• ERROR_BROKEN_PIPE (109) – The pipe has ended.
• ERROR_OPEN_FAILED (110) – The system can’t open the file or device specified.
• ERROR_BUFFER_OVERFLOW (111) – The file’s name is too long.
• ERROR_DISK_FULL (112) – The disk doesn’t have enough space.
• ERROR_NO_MORE_SEARCH_HANDLES (113) – There are no more internal file identifiers available.
• ERROR_INVALID_TARGET_HANDLE (114) – The target internal file identifier isn’t correct.
• ERROR_INVALID_VERIFY_SWITCH (118) – The verify-on-write switch parameter value isn’t correct.
• ERROR_BAD_DRIVER_LEVEL (119) – The system doesn’t support the command requested.
• ERROR_CALL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED (120) – The system doesn’t support the function.
• ERROR_SEM_TIMEOUT (121) – The semaphore timeout period has expired.
• ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER (122) – Too small data area passed to a system call.
• ERROR_INVALID_NAME (123) – The directory name, filename, or volume label syntax isn’t correct.
• ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL (124) – Incorrect system call level.
• ERROR_NO_VOLUME_LABEL (125) – The disk doesn’t have a volume label.
• ERROR_MOD_NOT_FOUND (126) – The specified module can’t be located.
• ERROR_PROC_NOT_FOUND (127) – The specified procedure can’t be located.
• ERROR_DIRECT_ACCESS_HANDLE (130) – Attempt to use a file handle to an open disk partition for an operation that isn’t raw disk I/O.
• ERROR_NEGATIVE_SEEK (131) – There was an attempt to move the file pointer before the file’s beginning.
• ERROR_SEEK_ON_DEVICE (132) – The file pointer can’t be set on the specified file or device.
• ERROR_IS_JOIN_TARGET (133) – A SUBST or JOIN command can’t be used for a drive that contains previously joined drives.
• ERROR_IS_JOINED (134) – There was an attempt to use a SUBST or JOIN command on a drive that has been joined.
• ERROR_IS_SUBSTED (135) – There was an attempt to use a SUBST or JOIN command on a drive that has been substituted.
• ERROR_NOT_JOINED (136) – There was an attempt to delete the JOIN of a drive that hasn’t been joined.
• ERROR_JOIN_TO_JOIN (138) – The system attempted to join a drive to a directory on a joined drive.
• ERROR_SUBST_TO_SUBST (139) – The system attempted to substitute a drive to a directory on a substituted drive.
• ERROR_JOIN_TO_SUBST (140) – The system attempted to join a drive to a directory on a substituted drive.
• ERROR_SUBST_TO_JOIN (141) – The system attempted to substitute a drive to a directory on a joined drive.
• ERROR_BUSY_DRIVE (142) – The system can’t perform a SUBST or a JOIN at the moment.
• ERROR_SAME_DRIVE (143) – The system can’t substitute or join a drive to or for a directory on the same drive.
• ERROR_DIR_NOT_ROOT (144) – The directory isn’t a subdirectory of the root directory.
• ERROR_DIR_NOT_EMPTY (145) – The directory isn’t empty.
• ERROR_IS_SUBST_PATH (146) – The specified path is being used in a substitute.
• ERROR_IS_JOIN_PATH (147) – There aren’t enough available resources to process the command.
• ERROR_PATH_BUSY (148) – The specified path can’t be used at the moment.
• ERROR_IS_SUBST_TARGET (149) – There was an attempt to substitute or join a drive for which a directory on the drive is the target of a previous substitute.
• ERROR_SYSTEM_TRACE (150) – There’s no system trace information specified in your CONFIG.SYS file, or tracing isn’t allowed.
• ERROR_INVALID_EVENT_COUNT (151) – There’s an incorrect number of specified semaphore events for DosMuxSemWait.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_MUXWAITERS (152) – DosMuxSemWait didn’t execute because there are too many already set semaphores.
• ERROR_INVALID_LIST_FORMAT (153) – The DosMuxSemWait list isn’t correct.
• ERROR_LABEL_TOO_LONG (154) – The entered volume label exceeds the label character limit of the target file system.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_TCBS (155) – Can’t create another thread.
• ERROR_SIGNAL_REFUSED (156) – The recipient process has refused the signal.
• ERROR_DISCARDED (157) – The particular segment is already discarded and can’t be locked.
• ERROR_NOT_LOCKED (158) – The particular segment is already unlocked.
• ERROR_BAD_THREADID_ADDR (159) – The thread ID address isn’t correct.
• ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS (160) – The argument string passed to DosExecPgm isn’t correct.
• ERROR_BUSY (170) – The requested resource is already in use.
• ERROR_CANCEL_VIOLATION (173) – A lock request wasn’t outstanding for the supplied cancel region.
• ERROR_ATOMIC_LOCKS_NOT_SUPPORTED (174) – The file system doesn’t support atomic changes to the lock type.
• ERROR_INVALID_SEGMENT_NUMBER (180) – The system detected an incorrect segment number.
• ERROR_SEM_NOT_FOUND (187) – The specified system semaphore name wasn’t located.
• ERROR_INVALID_EXE_SIGNATURE (191) – It’s not possible to run %1 in Win32 mode.
• ERROR_BAD_EXE_FORMAT (193) – %1 isn’t a valid Win32 application.
• ERROR_INVALID_MINALLOCSIZE (195) – The operating system cannot run %1.
• ERROR_DYNLINK_FROM_INVALID_RING (196) – The operating system can’t run the application program.
• ERROR_IOPL_NOT_ENABLED (197) – The operating system isn’t configured to run the application.
• ERROR_INVALID_SEGDPL (198) – The operating system cannot run %1.
• ERROR_AUTODATASEG_EXCEEDS_64k (199) – The operating system can’t run the application program.
• ERROR_RING2SEG_MUST_BE_MOVABLE (200) – The code segment can’t be equal to or greater than 64K.
• ERROR_ENVVAR_NOT_FOUND (203) – The system couldn’t find the entered environment option.
• ERROR_NO_SIGNAL_SENT (205) – No process in the command subtree has a signal handler.
• ERROR_FILENAME_EXCED_RANGE (206) – The extension or filename is too long.
• ERROR_RING2_STACK_IN_USE (207) – The ring 2 stack is in use.
• ERROR_META_EXPANSION_TOO_LONG (208) – The global filename characters * or ? aren’t entered correctly. This could also mean many global filename characters are specified.
• ERROR_INVALID_SIGNAL_NUMBER (209) – The signal being posted isn’t correct.
• ERROR_THREAD_1_INACTIVE (210) – The signal handler can’t be set.
• ERROR_LOCKED (212) – The segment is locked and can’t be reallocated.
• ERROR_TOO_MANY_MODULES (214) – There are too many dynamic-link modules attached to this program or dynamic-link module.
• ERROR_NESTING_NOT_ALLOWED (215) – Can’t nest calls to LoadModule.
• ERROR_EXE_MACHINE_TYPE_MISMATCH (216) – The image file %1 is valid. However, it’s for a machine type other than the current machine.
• ERROR_BAD_PIPE (230) – The pipe state isn’t valid.
• ERROR_NO_DATA (232) – The pipe is being closed.
• ERROR_PIPE_NOT_CONNECTED (233) – There’s no process on the other end of the pipe.
• ERROR_MORE_DATA (234) – More data is available.
• ERROR_VC_DISCONNECTED (240) – The session was canceled.
• ERROR_INVALID_EA_NAME (254) – The specified extended attribute name is invalid.
• ERROR_EA_FILE_CORRUPT (276) – The extended attribute file on the mounted file system is corrupt.

How to Resolve Error Codes in Windows

There are many ways to resolve error codes in Windows, depending on their type. Here are the most popular ones.

Restart Your Computer

This is the most obvious and easiest way to fix errors in Windows. Although it may seem strange, restarting the system can resolve a wide range of issues on your computer.

Run CHKDSK and SFC

CHKDSK and SFC represent Windows system utilities that can repair a corrupt file system. These utilities can help if there’s a Windows file that has become corrupt and is triggering error codes across the system.

Here’s how to run SFC.

1. Open the Start menu and type “Command prompt” in the search bar.
2. Right-click on the icon and choose “Run as administrator.”
3. Type this command and press Enter: “DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth”.
4. Wait until the command is completed. Keep in mind the process can take up to 20 minutes.
5. Once the process is finished, type “sfc /scannow” and press Enter.

Then, you need to run CHKDSK. While SFC scans only your files, CHKDSK scans the entire drive for errors. Here’s how to run it.

1. Launch the Start menu and type “Command prompt” in the search bar.
2. Right-click on the icon and select “Run as administrator.”
3. Type “chkdsk /r” in the command prompt and press Enter.
4. Restart your system.

Perform a Windows Update

Another way to fix Windows errors is to perform a Windows update. Microsoft often releases fixes for different issues through Windows updates. If you don’t update your system regularly, it’s possible you missed these fixes. Of course, updating your system has other benefits, including preventing security issues and improving program features.

Here’s how to perform a Windows update.

1. Open the Start menu and press the gear icon on the left to access Settings.
2. Press “Update & Security.”
3. Go to the “Windows Update” tab if your system doesn’t take you there automatically and select “Check for updates.”
4. If no updates appear, it means you’re already using the latest version. If you see updates, install them.
5. Wait until the process is complete. Your computer will likely reboot to update the system.

Ask for Help

If none of these methods work, ask a professional for help. Computer technicians may be able to resolve your Windows error and ensure your computer runs smoothly.

Resolve Windows Errors in No Time

This extensive list of errors in Windows is only a small portion. Thousands of errors can occur, and learning how to identify and fix them is vital for regaining control over your device as soon as possible. If you’re not confident that you can take care of the issue yourself, feel free to ask a knowledgeable family member, friend, or computer technician for help.