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QPARSE_E_INVALID_RANKMETHOD
The ranking method is invalid
QPARSE_E_INVALID_RANKMETHOD is HRESULT 0x8004167B. Windows documents it as “Invalid rank method.”
Exact contract boundary
This result belongs to legacy Windows query parsing and is returned while validating the algorithm or method used to rank matches. The exact condition is: a misspelled, newer, mode-specific or uninitialized method identifier reaches the legacy parser.
Input or state defects
Incident record
- Compare failing and known-good values for method token under the same provider or handler version.
- Record the source and normalization path of provider version, not only its display form.
- Record expected semantics before releasing the relevant objects.
- Associate default-method control with the exact UTC timestamp and correlation identifier.
- Compare failing and known-good values for final parser input bytes under the same provider or handler version.
How to isolate the cause
- Capture method token and provider version at the call boundary that returns this result.
- Confirm the operation reached validating the algorithm or method used to rank matches with the intended query form.
- record raw method, provider version, query form and expected relevance semantics.
Restoration strategy
Select a supported method or explicit default and compare result ordering before fallback. Retrying identical parser bytes cannot succeed; regenerate the specific token or schema pairing that failed.
Scope of the result
Comparison with adjacent codes
QPARSE_E_WEIGHT_OUT_OF_RANGE rejects a numeric weight, not the method.
Developer and administrator guidance
Example from a search pipeline
A modern ranking profile reaches a legacy provider. Capability detection selects a documented default and records the downgrade.
Official Microsoft references
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