What does Windows error code 194 (ERROR_ITERATED_DATA_EXCEEDS_64k) mean?

ERROR_ITERATED_DATA_EXCEEDS_64k

What ERROR_ITERATED_DATA_EXCEEDS_64k means

ERROR_ITERATED_DATA_EXCEEDS_64k is Win32 system error code associated with the documented message: “The operating system cannot run %1.” The significant condition is that expanded iterated-data records for a legacy segment would exceed the 64 KiB segment boundary.

Likely causes

• a 16-bit linker generated oversized repeated-data records
• binary patching changed repetition counts without updating segment constraints
• the application depends on a loader behavior not supported by the active compatibility layer

Troubleshooting steps

1. Inspect iterated-data records and calculate their expanded size
2. relink the module with smaller segments or different data grouping
3. Test the original unmodified binary in its supported operating environment

Code-specific investigation notes

Iterated data stores repeated byte patterns compactly in the file and expands them during loading. The encoded record can look small even though its materialized segment is too large.

Calculate nested repetition counts carefully and guard against integer overflow in custom inspection tools.

The sustainable fix is to split or reorganize data at link time; truncating the expansion changes program data and can produce silent corruption.

Difference from related errors

ERROR_AUTODATASEG_EXCEEDS_64k concerns the automatic data segment size; it concerns expansion of encoded repeated data.

References

• Microsoft: System error codes 0–499