Windows error 6008 (ERROR_NOT_EXPORT_FORMAT): meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: ERROR_NOT_EXPORT_FORMAT the specified file is not in the defined EFS export format.

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ERROR_FILE_NOT_ENCRYPTED	ERROR_FILE_READ_ONLY

ERROR_NOT_EXPORT_FORMAT

Ordinary file bytes are not a valid raw EFS import stream

The raw EFS APIs are designed for backup programs that must preserve encrypted files without possessing decryption keys. ReadEncryptedFileRaw supplies an opaque export stream containing encrypted file data and EFS information; WriteEncryptedFileRaw expects that stream during a context opened for import.

A plaintext copy, a normal backup stream, a partially reconstructed $EFS attribute, or reordered callback chunks are not interchangeable with the raw export format. Diagnose this as a backup-pipeline integrity problem before investigating user certificates.

What to inspect

Whether the source was opened with OpenEncryptedFileRaw for export.
Exact callback byte order, lengths, truncation, compression, and storage transformations.
Whether the restore context used CREATE_FOR_IMPORT and invoked WriteEncryptedFileRaw once as documented.
Preservation of the EFS metadata alongside encrypted content.

References

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