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CO_E_FAILEDTOCREATEFILE
COM could not create its access-control serialization file
CO_E_FAILEDTOCREATEFILE is HRESULT 2147549495 (0x80010137) from winerror.h. The documented description is “Unable to create file.” The relevant context is the COM IAccessControl, DCOM client identity, trustee translation, token inspection, security descriptor, ACL, or serialization workflow.
The caller should keep this result intact through logging, exception translation, and RPC or language projection boundaries.
What to verify
Verify that path, desired access, sharing, disposition, filesystem, service identity, and native error are known. That boundary prevents this result from being misclassified as corruption, network failure, or a reason for an unsafe automatic retry.
Where it is encountered
- This result can be returned during IAccessControl initialization, access checks, owner/trustee processing, and serialized ACL persistence.
- This result can be returned during server-side DCOM impersonation, client blanket inspection, token and SID lookup.
- It can be returned during security descriptor construction, DACL canonicalization, file-backed policy storage, or legacy NetAccess migration.
The immediate focus is file creation for serialized ACL or IAccessControl state after path and identifier construction.
Correct handling and recovery
Correct directory existence and ACLs, available space, sharing conflicts, or path construction. Remove partial files and keep the prior valid serialization intact.
An unchanged retry loop can duplicate effects, deepen reentrancy, or hide an invalid lifetime transition.
Difference from nearby HRESULTs
It is storage creation failure; CO_E_PATHTOOLONG identifies the path-length cause before or during creation.
Developer and administrator guidance
After it, avoid broad permission grants or system-wide resets unless code-specific evidence proves a global configuration problem.
Practical scenario
A service upgrade changes the account and loses write access to its ACL store. Installation grants the application directory the minimal required rights.
References
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