HRESULT 0x80030009 (STG_E_INVALIDPOINTER): meaning and diagnosis

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Description:

A Structured Storage API received an invalid pointer for a required input or output parameter.

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STG_E_INSUFFICIENTMEMORY	STG_E_NOMOREFILES

STG_E_INVALIDPOINTER

Developer-facing HRESULT

STG_E_INVALIDPOINTER normally points to a caller-side API contract problem. Structured Storage interfaces accept pointers for names, interface outputs, statistics, and buffers. A null pointer where the method requires writable storage, a pointer whose lifetime has ended, an invalid string, or a bad interop declaration can cause this error before the compound file is meaningfully accessed.

It is therefore different from STG_E_INVALIDHEADER or STG_E_DOCFILECORRUPT: those describe the document container; STG_E_INVALIDPOINTER describes the call boundary. If the same file works through another tool, investigate the integration code first.

What to review

Check the exact method signature and which parameters are mandatory, optional, input-only, or output-only.
For C#/C++ interop, verify marshalling, structure packing, character encoding, and ownership rules for every pointer-sized parameter.
Initialize output interface pointers to a known value and release interfaces according to COM reference-counting rules.
Capture the failing method name; a bare HRESULT without the API call is rarely enough to find the defect.

References

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