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NS_E_LICENSE_INCORRECT_RIGHTS
Why the symbolic result matters
When NS_E_LICENSE_INCORRECT_RIGHTS is returned, the system has already established that the located license does not grant the exact action attempted by the caller. Within Windows Media licensing, this result is raised while processing the feature or media-operation licensing gate that decides whether the installed product and the current content-rights object permit the requested operation.
Use the failing operation itself to query play, copy, burn or transfer rights separately instead of checking only for license presence.
Objects involved
Do not separate this result from its owning state: application feature entitlement, media license, requested operation, validity interval and rights flags. The diagnostic record for it is the API operation, feature identifier, license identity, validity dates and rights returned for that exact operation.
A later generic error must not replace this evidence: the original condition remains that the located license does not grant the exact action attempted by the caller.
Cause and successor state
A useful failure model for it links cause and recovery: the located license does not grant the exact action attempted by the caller. Verify that model when you query play, copy, burn or transfer rights separately instead of checking only for license presence, then make the smallest change needed to request a license containing the missing action or stop offering that operation. Record the first lower-layer status beside this result because wrapper HRESULTs can otherwise conceal the producing component.
What separates this code
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Temporal state | trusted/system time, validity interval, request sequence and retry number when they influence it |
| Lower result | the earliest store, network, cryptographic, driver or provider status preceding the final it wrapper |
| Owner | operation, API/callback, object or session identifier, and component/device version associated with it |
| Direct check | query play, copy, burn or transfer rights separately instead of checking only for license presence |
| Policy input | requested action plus the exact license, certificate, profile, output or registration property evaluated by it |
Adjacent HRESULTs
| Result | Why it points elsewhere |
|---|---|
NS_E_LICENSE_REQUIRED | the media operation reached a content-protection gate with no usable license object |
NS_E_LICENSE_OUTOFDATE | a license exists but its time or revision constraints no longer authorize this media object |
NS_E_WMDRM_DEPRECATED | the caller selected legacy WMDRM functionality that the current platform treats as deprecated |
First failure versus cleanup
The established fact is that the located license does not grant the exact action attempted by the caller. That fact does not independently establish damaged media bytes, a missing decoder, a generally broken network, or invalid rights for every other action.
If the Player, encoder, setup program or device layer later emits a broader error, retain it as the first specific result. The object and operation attached to it are usually more diagnostic than a later cleanup or user-interface summary.
Verification sequence
- Preserve it and
0xC00D0BC1before cleanup, fallback or another media item changes the context. - Compare the failure with a known-good case that changes only the property named by this condition: the located license does not grant the exact action attempted by the caller.
- Apply the narrow correction for it: request a license containing the missing action or stop offering that operation.
- Associate it with its current Windows Media licensing object and the requested action.
- Run the direct check for it: query play, copy, burn or transfer rights separately instead of checking only for license presence.
- Repeat the same action with the same content/device identity and verify that it is not replaced by another policy or trust failure.
Safe recovery
The appropriate operational response is to request a license containing the missing action or stop offering that operation. Success means that the same requested action is accepted after that precise state change, not merely that another file or device happens to work.
- While investigating it, keep this restriction: Do not assume that installing a codec changes licensing state; codec availability and permission to use the feature or content are independent checks.
- Do not alter trusted time, revocation enforcement, certificate validation or output policy merely to suppress it; that bypasses the decision instead of correcting its input.
- Retain one failing artifact and one corrected artifact so the resolution of it can be regression-tested.
A useful automated test
For the final it test, keep the content KID or file hash, requested action, user/account, device identity and output route unchanged wherever they apply.
Technical references
- DRM basics — provides the normative workflow relevant to it.
- Licenses and the local license store — lists the security and state transitions used to interpret it.
- Actions and rights — defines the platform objects used when diagnosing it.
- Windows Media Format SDK error codes — documents the protocol or API boundary behind it.
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