What does Windows error code 201 (ERROR_RELOC_CHAIN_XEEDS_SEGLIM) mean?

ERROR_RELOC_CHAIN_XEEDS_SEGLIM

What ERROR_RELOC_CHAIN_XEEDS_SEGLIM means

ERROR_RELOC_CHAIN_XEEDS_SEGLIM is Win32 system error code associated with the documented message: “The operating system cannot run %1.” The significant condition is that a relocation chain extends beyond the bounds of the segment it is supposed to fix up.

Relocation processing adjusts addresses when the image is placed in memory. With this result, a malformed chain is an image-integrity problem: the loader cannot safely guess which fixups were intended.

Likely causes

• the relocation table is corrupt or truncated
• a packer or patcher changed segment offsets without rebuilding relocation chains
• storage corruption altered a relocation link or segment length

Troubleshooting steps

1. Validate every relocation-chain offset against its segment size
2. Compare relocation tables with a known-good executable
3. remove post-link transformation and rebuild the artifact

Code-specific investigation notes

Every relocation location must lie inside the segment being fixed. Once a chain crosses that boundary, following it could overwrite unrelated loader memory.

A safe validator stops at the first out-of-range link and reports the previous valid record, segment size, and offending offset.

If a custom patcher is involved, verify its behavior when segment alignment changes; unchanged logical offsets can become invalid after repacking.

Example

A post-build packer rewrites a legacy executable. The packaged file copies successfully, but its relocation data is inconsistent and startup stops with it.

Difference from related errors

ERROR_INFLOOP_IN_RELOC_CHAIN detects a cyclic relocation chain; it detects a chain that escapes the segment boundary.

References

• Microsoft: System error codes 0–499