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hrBufferTooSmall
Why this is more specific than the message text
hrBufferTooSmall means a caller-provided output area cannot hold the value ESE is returning.
This is the legacy Directory Service backup/restore HRESULT form of JET_errBufferTooSmall (0xC800040E).
The key comparison is: hrInvalidBufferSize usually means a fixed-size column contract mismatch, not a grow-and-retry output pattern. The first useful observation is to record supplied capacity, returned required length, encoding, structure version, and whether partial data is documented. This evidence separates malformed input from a valid name, path, or buffer that simply produced no result.
Related ESE conditions
hrInvalidPath | a database, system, log, or temporary directory does not satisfy the path contract |
|---|---|
hrInvalidBufferSize | the supplied byte count is incompatible with the selected column type or operation |
hrInvalidParameter | the function received a value or combination that violates its call contract |
The ESE objects in play
| Diagnostic layer | API argument, naming, path, and buffer contracts |
|---|---|
| Typical API surface | the specific Jet* function named by the caller and its structure definitions in esent.h |
| Code-specific condition | a caller-provided output area cannot hold the value ESE is returning |
| First corrective direction | allocate from the required length, retain overflow checks, and repeat only a non-destructive read where possible |
Many output APIs expose a required byte count, while fixed-width inputs must match a declared type exactly. The original Unicode value and byte length matter when diagnosing names and paths.
Data for a reproducible case
- Code-specific observation: record supplied capacity, returned required length, encoding, structure version, and whether partial data is documented.
- the documented required-size value for any output buffer; associate it with this result rather than with a later generic exception.
- the unmodified argument value with its Unicode and byte lengths.
- structure sizes, reserved fields, grbits, and API version.
Corrective workflow
- Freeze the failing request context and record
0xC800040E, the Jet API name, and the current instance/session ownership. - Verify the code-specific precondition: record supplied capacity, returned required length, encoding, structure version, and whether partial data is documented.
- Apply the targeted fix: allocate from the required length, retain overflow checks, and repeat only a non-destructive read where possible.
- Before retrying the operation, reconcile the exact argument bytes and the absence of unintended object creation.
Actions that can hide or worsen the problem
- Do not silently trim, recode, or sanitize the value into a different identifier.
- Do not grow a fixed-width input buffer as though it were a variable output.
Technical references
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