What does HRESULT 0x801B8006 (WER_E_INSUFFICIENT_CONSENT) mean?

 
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WER_E_INSUFFICIENT_CONSENT

WER_E_INSUFFICIENT_CONSENT is the failure HRESULT 0x801B8006 (signed decimal -2145681402, unsigned decimal 2149285894). Its severity bit is 1, facility is 27 (FACILITY_WER), and the facility-specific code field is 0x8006.

AllStat records the Windows SDK message as “Operation failed due to insufficient user consent.”

Consent is part of the API contract

Windows Error Reporting applies user and administrator privacy decisions to report data. This HRESULT means the requested operation required a consent level that was not available. It is not a network error and should not be “fixed” by silently resubmitting the same data under a fabricated approval state.

Relevant WerReportSubmit inputs

WerReportSubmit receives a WER_CONSENT value such as approved, denied, not asked, or always prompt. Submission flags also change the result. Microsoft specifically documents that WER_SUBMIT_NO_QUEUE discards a report when an action would require queuing, including cases where consent for the data portion is insufficient.

Situations that produce insufficient consent

  • a service or headless process cannot display the prompt needed for additional data;
  • the caller supplies WerConsentDenied or a level that does not authorize the requested content;
  • enterprise policy limits upload or collection of particular report data;
  • registered files, user documents, or detailed dumps require authorization beyond basic parameters;
  • the application combines immediate no-queue submission with a consent state that permits only later policy handling.

What to record without exposing report data

  • the consent enumeration value and submission flags;
  • interactive, service, scheduled-task, or remote-session execution context;
  • report type and categories of requested data—not the sensitive contents themselves;
  • whether policy allowed queueing, UI, and additional-data collection;
  • HRESULT plus WER_SUBMIT_RESULT, if returned.

Resolution paths

For an interactive application, allow WER to request consent using the supported UI flow. For managed enterprise systems, use approved Group Policy and corporate reporting configuration. For non-critical telemetry, redesign the report so it contains only data authorized by the available consent level, or keep local diagnostics under the organization’s retention controls.

Retry policy

Retry only after consent or policy has genuinely changed. Repeated background attempts under the same identity and flags cannot create authorization and may produce unwanted prompts or discarded reports.

Difference from user cancellation

WER_E_CANCELED records an active user decision to stop a report. Insufficient consent can arise without a visible Cancel action—for example, from a headless context or policy requirement. Preserve this distinction in telemetry because the remediation owners are different.

Practical scenario

A Windows service builds a report containing a user document and submits it with no queue while no interactive user is available. WER cannot obtain the needed approval. The correct response is to change the approved collection design, not to force the upload from the service.

Official Microsoft references

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