NS_E_OUTPUT_PROTECTION_SCHEME_UNSUPPORTED: meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:

Category:

Constant name:

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Facility:

Operating System:

Description:

Windows Media Player does not support the scheme of output protection required by the content.%0

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NS_E_UNCOMPRESSED_DIGITAL_AUDIO_PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNSUPPORTED	NS_E_REBOOT_RECOMMENDED

NS_E_OUTPUT_PROTECTION_SCHEME_UNSUPPORTED

What this result actually narrows

Treat 0xC00D290A as a state report from NS_E_OUTPUT_PROTECTION_SCHEME_UNSUPPORTED: the license names an output-protection scheme unavailable on the selected path. Within Windows Media DRM output protection, this result is raised while processing license-policy evaluation that compares the content owner’s required output protection level or scheme with the active audio/video output path.

To prove this boundary rather than infer it from a dialog, identify the required scheme and enumerate schemes reported by the output.

Inputs to the decision

The security decision represented by this result depends on license OPL fields, play or copy action, output connector type, compressed/uncompressed state, driver-reported protection capability and selected rendering path. Record the requested action, required OPL values, active connector, negotiated protection mechanism and whether the stream is compressed at that boundary from the same attempt.

The scope stays narrow: the license names an output-protection scheme unavailable on the selected path. Other content or actions may still be valid.

Validate one precondition

Preserve this result and 0xC00D290A before 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 license names an output-protection scheme unavailable on the selected path.
Apply the targeted fix: select hardware/driver implementing that scheme or use appropriately licensed content.
Associate it with its current Windows Media DRM output protection object and the requested action.
Run the direct check: identify the required scheme and enumerate schemes reported by the output.

From evidence to correction

It should be modeled as a failed precondition, not as an arbitrary media exception. Demonstrate the precondition by choosing to identify the required scheme and enumerate schemes reported by the output, and remove it by choosing to select hardware/driver implementing that scheme or use appropriately licensed content. Record the first lower-layer status beside it because wrapper HRESULTs can otherwise conceal the producing component.

Conditions excluded by this code

The license names an output-protection scheme unavailable on the selected path.

A useful support bundle

Field	Value
Direct check	identify the required scheme and enumerate schemes reported by the output

Useful comparisons

Result	Why it points elsewhere
`NS_E_COMPRESSED_DIGITAL_AUDIO_PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNSUPPORTED`	compressed digital audio output lacks the protection level demanded by the license
`NS_E_UNCOMPRESSED_DIGITAL_AUDIO_PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNSUPPORTED`	the PCM/uncompressed audio path cannot satisfy the license protection requirement
`NS_E_ANALOG_VIDEO_PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNSUPPORTED`	the analog video output cannot apply the policy required by the license

Corrective action

Do not treat every output-protection result as a missing codec; the decoder can be present while the connector or driver cannot enforce the license policy.

Technical references

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