What does Windows error code 15158 (ERROR_PRI_MERGE_INVALID_FILE_NAME) mean?

ERROR_PRI_MERGE_INVALID_FILE_NAME

Invalid name supplied for a canonical merged PRI file.

ERROR_PRI_MERGE_INVALID_FILE_NAME is Windows system result 15158 (0x00003B36). Microsoft defines it as “Invalid name supplied for a canonical merged PRI file.”

How to classify the result

This result represents a PRI merge output-name validation failure. The correct interpretation depends on the canonical merged PRI filename, output directory, package identity, and resource-indexing command that supplied it.

Where it can appear

• This result can appear in MakePri or an MRM resource indexer merge operation.
• This result can appear in application packaging that combines resources from dependencies.
• It can appear in deployment tooling generating a canonical resources.pri artifact.

Typical causes

• the output name contains a path where only a canonical filename is accepted.
• the filename has invalid characters or an unsupported extension.
• an empty, relative, or traversal-style name reaches the merge layer.
• the caller confuses package name with PRI filename.
• normalization changes the name after collision checks.

Useful evidence

• Record raw and normalized output filename.
• Record output directory and package root.
• Record MakePri command line or indexer API parameters.
• Record package identity and resource schema name.
• Record verbose or XML indexer log.

Recovery and retry

Supply a valid canonical PRI filename in the correct parameter and keep path selection in the documented output-location field.

Retry only after changing the filename. Repeating the merge with identical input cannot repair a syntactically rejected name.

Difference from related results

It is narrower than a general file-not-found or access-denied result: validation rejects the canonical merged name before ordinary file I/O.

Example

A packaging script passes C:\build\resources.pri as the canonical name while also supplying an output directory. Splitting the value into directory and resources.pri lets the merge proceed.

Developer and administrator guidance

Packaging tools should validate canonical names before invoking MRM and log both raw and normalized values. Build systems should retain the MakePri diagnostic log as an artifact.

References

• Microsoft: System Error Codes 12000–15999
• Microsoft: MakePri command-line options
• Microsoft: MrmDumpPriFile