What does Windows error code 5916 (ERROR_CLUSTER_INVALID_STRING_TERMINATION) mean?

ERROR_CLUSTER_INVALID_STRING_TERMINATION

An input string of characters is not properly terminated.

ERROR_CLUSTER_INVALID_STRING_TERMINATION is Win32 error 5916 (0x171C) and belongs to Failover clustering cluster string buffer validation.

Troubleshooting steps

• Record buffer length in bytes and characters.
• Record encoding and terminating code unit.
• Record structure field containing the string.
• Record marshaling layer and caller architecture.

What to verify

Verify whether an input character string is not terminated as required by the cluster API contract. Check buffer length in bytes and characters together with encoding and terminating code unit.

Handling, retry, and recovery

Allocate the documented buffer size, include the terminator, and pass lengths in the units required by the api.

Practical example

A native wrapper copies a maximum-length name without space for the final UTF-16 null, and cluster validation rejects it.

References

• Microsoft: System Error Codes (4000–5999) — reference for error 5916.
• Microsoft: Failover clustering documentation — reference for error 5916.
• Microsoft: Get-ClusterLog — reference for error 5916.
• Microsoft: Troubleshoot unexpected cluster failover — reference for error 5916.