What does Windows error code 4401 (ERROR_APP_DATA_EXPIRED) mean?

ERROR_APP_DATA_EXPIRED

Fast Cache data expired.

ERROR_APP_DATA_EXPIRED is Win32 error 4401 (0x1131) and belongs to Fast Cache freshness policy.

Where the result appears

• Reading cached application data with an expiration time.
• Offline startup after a long interval.
• Version or policy changes that invalidate old Fast Cache state.
• A service deciding whether cached data may substitute for origin data.

Likely causes

• the entry age exceeded its allowed lifetime.
• a policy or application version shortened the validity window.
• system clock correction made the entry appear older.
• the producer intentionally invalidated data after an external change.

Troubleshooting steps

• Record creation, last-update, and expiration timestamps.
• Record system clock and time-service events.
• Record application and schema versions.
• Record effective cache lifetime policy.
• Record availability and response of the authoritative source.

What to verify

Verify whether the entry age exceeded its allowed lifetime. Check creation, last-update, and expiration timestamps together with system clock and time-service events.

Handling, retry, and recovery

Refresh from the authoritative source and replace the entry atomically. Use stale data only when the application has an explicit, risk-aware stale-cache policy.

Difference from nearby codes

A validly parsed but old entry yields EXPIRED; malformed or failed integrity checks should yield CORRUPT.

Practical example

A laptop returns from months offline with an intact cache entry.

References

• Microsoft: System Error Codes (4000–5999) — reference for error 4401.
• Microsoft: Storage management — reference for error 4401.
• Microsoft: Troubleshoot data corruption and disk errors — reference for error 4401.