Windows error 131 (ERROR_NEGATIVE_SEEK): meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: A seek operation attempted to move before the beginning of the file or stream.

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ECONNRESET	errno	Solaris
EOTHER	errno	Windows
OFS_FILE_SYSTEM	BugCheck Code	Windows

Previous	Next
ERROR_DIRECT_ACCESS_HANDLE	ERROR_SEEK_ON_DEVICE

ERROR_NEGATIVE_SEEK

The requested file position is negative

ERROR_NEGATIVE_SEEK is returned when file-position arithmetic produces an offset before byte zero. This often comes from signed underflow, subtracting a header size from a small position, or using the wrong seek origin.

Checks

Log the current position, displacement, and seek origin.
Validate subtraction before performing it.
Use signed 64-bit arithmetic consistently for offsets.
Check conversions from unsigned sizes to signed positions.

Fix

Reject or clamp invalid positions according to the file-format contract. Do not continue I/O as though the seek succeeded.

References

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