Windows error 12 (ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS): meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: The requested access mode or access code is invalid for the operation.

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
KERN_NOT_IN_SET	Kern return	Mac
ippStsOverflow	Intel Ipp Status	Any
ENOMEM	errno	Any
MAXIMUM_WAIT_OBJECTS_EXCEEDED	BugCheck Code	Windows

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ERROR_BAD_FORMAT	ERROR_INVALID_DATA

ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS

An unsupported access request was supplied

ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS means the caller supplied an access value that the API does not accept. It differs from ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED: this result points to an invalid request, not necessarily insufficient permission.

Review

Compare the access flags with the API contract.
Check for mixed flag sets from unrelated APIs.
Verify integer widths and structure initialization.
Log the exact requested mask in hexadecimal.

Fix

Correct the flags and request the minimum supported access. Elevation or ACL changes do not solve an invalid access-mask combination.

References

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