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VFW_E_BAD_KEY
Meaning
Windows documents VFW_E_BAD_KEY as “A registry entry is corrupt”. Here, DirectShow reads a registry entry used for filter or media configuration and finds corrupt or unusable data.
Relevant contract
Start with the filter graph, device or persisted configuration that first returned the result.
Conditions that can produce it
- Cause 1: a filter-registration value was partially written.
- Cause 2: manual registry editing produced an invalid type or payload.
- Cause 3: an obsolete component left incompatible data behind.
Evidence worth preserving
- Evidence 1: registry path, value name, type and size.
- Evidence 2: component installer and version owning the key.
- Evidence 3: comparison with a clean installation of the same build.
Correction strategy
- Action 1: repair the component through its supported installer.
- Action 2: validate registry data before interpreting it.
- Action 3: remove only entries proven to belong to the broken registration and preserve a backup.
Retry and recovery
Retry rule: Retry after supported repair or verified registry correction; repeated reads of the same corrupt value cannot succeed.
How it differs from nearby results
REGDB_E_INVALIDVALUE is a general COM registration database result, while it identifies corrupt registry data encountered by a DirectShow path.
Example incident
A filter installer crashes while updating registration metadata and leaves a truncated binary value; reinstalling that component resolves it.
Official Microsoft references
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