What does NTSTATUS 0xC0000122 (STATUS_INVALID_COMPUTER_NAME) mean?

STATUS_INVALID_COMPUTER_NAME

The remote-computer name failed syntax validation

STATUS_INVALID_COMPUTER_NAME means the caller supplied a remote computer name that the receiving Windows API could not accept syntactically. The failure occurs before ordinary reachability or authentication can establish whether such a machine exists.

What to verify

• Capture the exact input string, including leading backslashes, trailing dots, whitespace, Unicode characters, and any embedded path or share suffix.
• Check the contract of the API that accepted the computer-name parameter; a UNC path, DNS name, NetBIOS-style name, and account name are not interchangeable inputs.
• Normalize only what the API permits. Do not silently strip characters if that can redirect the request to a different host.

Recovery boundary

Correct construction of the remote-computer argument, then retry. DNS, firewall, and credential troubleshooting belongs after the name is syntactically valid.

References

• Microsoft Open Specifications: NTSTATUS values
• Microsoft: Using NTSTATUS values