NTSTATUS 0xC000014C (STATUS_REGISTRY

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: A registry hive structure or its in-memory image is corrupt and could not be recovered.

Previous	Next
STATUS_PIPE_BROKEN	STATUS_REGISTRY_IO_FAILED

STATUS_REGISTRY_CORRUPT

Registry structure validation failed

This status indicates structural corruption rather than a simple missing key or denied access. Windows found invalid hive data in the backing file or mapped image, or it could not recover because the transaction log or alternate copy was missing or unusable.

Do not overwrite the affected files before collecting evidence. A valid backup, system-state restore, or supported recovery environment is safer than editing binary hive data in place. Repeated corruption also warrants investigation of storage, memory, abrupt shutdowns, and software that writes offline hives.

What to inspect

Record the exact hive path and whether the failure occurred during boot or manual load.
Preserve the hive and its LOG files before attempting repair.
Check disk, controller, and memory diagnostics for correlated failures.
Restore from a known-good source rather than importing arbitrary .reg text.

References

Looking for a different code? Search another status or error code.