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STATUS_INVALID_PLUGPLAY_DEVICE_PATH
The supplied PnP path is malformed or stale
Plug and Play uses device instance identifiers and system-managed registry branches to associate devnodes, drivers, interfaces, and properties. A path assembled by string concatenation can become invalid when identifiers are escaped incorrectly, a device is removed, or code confuses an interface path with a registry path.
The Enum branch is owned by the PnP manager. Directly rewriting it can break device installation state; callers should obtain current identifiers through Configuration Manager or SetupAPI and reopen the device using documented APIs.
What to inspect
- Capture the exact path before normalization or buffer conversion.
- Verify the current device instance ID through SetupAPI or Configuration Manager.
- Distinguish a device interface symbolic link from a registry key path.
- Remove stale device state through supported device-installation tooling.
References
- Microsoft Learn: Device Instance IDs
- Microsoft Learn: Registry Keys for Drivers
- Microsoft Learn: Services Registry Tree
- Microsoft Open Specifications: NTSTATUS values
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