What does NTSTATUS 0xC0000257 (STATUS_PATH_NOT_COVERED) mean?

 
Previous Next
STATUS_REGISTRY_QUOTA_LIMIT STATUS_NO_CALLBACK_ACTIVE

STATUS_PATH_NOT_COVERED

The contacted DFS server does not cover this namespace path

In DFS, this status is part of referral processing rather than an ordinary missing-file result. A server can return it when the requested pathname belongs to a DFS link or to a namespace portion that must be resolved through another target.

A DFS-aware client reports the condition to its DFS subsystem, obtains or refreshes a referral, and retries against the selected target. If a request already issued to a resolved target returns the status unexpectedly, the protocol specification requires the original I/O to fail. Capture referral cache state and the exact server that returned the code.

What to inspect

  • Record the logical UNC path, contacted server, and current referral entry.
  • Refresh referrals only after checking namespace and target health.
  • Use an SMB trace to separate referral failure from target-connection failure.

References


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