What does Windows error code 8201 (ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY) mean?

ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY

The directory service evaluated group memberships locally.

Windows assigns decimal 8201 and hexadecimal 0x00002009 to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, the decisive subject is local evaluation of Active Directory group membership; the value alone does not reveal which object, server, file, session, or transition failed.

The native value for ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY is 8201 (0x00002009). Preserve ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY immediately after the failing Windows call because later logging, cleanup, LDAP, RPC, or file operations can replace the last-error value.

Where this result appears

• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, processing local evaluation of Active Directory group membership.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, executing an LDAP, RPC, deployment, replication, or directory-management operation.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, working against a specific domain controller whose replica and schema state affect the result.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, translating extended directory diagnostics into a Win32 error for an application or administration tool.

State boundary to prove

ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY applies to local evaluation of Active Directory group membership and does not by itself prove that the entire server, directory, disk, session, or application is unavailable. The state boundary to prove for ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY is whether the caller recognizes that membership was evaluated on the contacted server rather than proven from a globally authoritative view. Use contacted domain controller and site, group scope and domain, and replication freshness as independent evidence. When evidence for ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY disagrees, preserve timestamps and investigate the transition instead of selecting the most convenient value.

Likely causes

• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, a local directory service answered without consulting another replica.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, universal or cross-domain membership data was unavailable.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, the API intentionally used local evaluation semantics.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, replication latency means remote changes are not yet visible.

Diagnostic sequence

1. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, capture error 8201 immediately at the API boundary and record the operation that was attempted.
2. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, identify the exact owner of local evaluation of Active Directory group membership, including object generation, server, path, session, replica, or client context.
3. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, collect contacted domain controller and site before restarting a service or changing configuration.
4. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, compare group scope and domain with the documented or observed precondition.
5. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, correlate replication freshness with the Directory Service event log, LDAP extended diagnostics, replication metadata, dcdiag and repadmin output, and the calling application’s request trace.
6. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, determine whether side effects occurred and verify recovery after changing one responsible condition.

Evidence to collect

• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, contacted domain controller and site.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, group scope and domain.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, replication freshness.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, token or membership API used.

Correlate ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY with the Directory Service event log, LDAP extended diagnostics, replication metadata, dcdiag and repadmin output, and the calling application’s request trace. Keep the first detailed status even when a later wrapper translates it to error 8201; the first status often distinguishes transport, authorization, storage, schema, state, and application-integrity causes that share the same final Win32 result.

Handling, retry, and recovery

For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, the recovery objective is to treat the result as qualified success, document the scope of evaluation, and query an appropriate global catalog or authoritative domain when a forest-wide answer is required.

Retry ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY only after the recorded condition changes and completion state is known. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, idempotent queries may be repeated after recovery, but mutations require a state check first; backoff cannot repair malformed input, corruption, missing structure, or policy rejection.

Telemetry and support fields

• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, record ds_membership_evaluated_locally_api for the producing function or management operation.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, record ds_membership_evaluated_locally_target for the file, log, session, replica, object, or server identity.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, record ds_membership_evaluated_locally_state_before and ds_membership_evaluated_locally_requested_transition.
• For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, record ds_membership_evaluated_locally_first_status for the earliest lower-level diagnostic.

For support escalation involving ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, retain decimal 8201, hexadecimal 0x00002009, the API, UTC time, target identity, and first subsystem-specific status. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, include the smallest reproducible request and evidence that distinguishes this condition from nearby codes. In the context of ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, many ds codes are internal or management-facing and are not tied to one public function. the producing ldap, rpc, deployment, or management api must therefore be recorded with the code.

Difference from nearby results

For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, ERROR_DS_NO_RESULTS_RETURNED means the query produced no result objects; this status says membership was evaluated but only locally

Practical validation scenario

An authorization diagnostic queries a regional DC during a WAN outage. The DC evaluates local memberships, and the tool labels the answer as site-local rather than claiming forest-wide completeness. The negative test should preserve the responsible condition and reproduce ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY; the recovery test should change only the identified cause, repeat the same operation, and verify both success and the absence of an unintended partial side effect.

Developer and administrator guidance

Administrators handling ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY should preserve Directory Service events, replication metadata, and the contacted domain controller before changing objects or forcing role transitions. For ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY, developers should retain LDAP extended diagnostics and object identities across wrappers so the Win32 code does not erase the actionable directory result. Code that exposes ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY through RPC, JSON, REST, PowerShell, or another protocol should preserve the Win32 domain, decimal 8201, hexadecimal 0x00002009, and original component diagnostic.

References

• Microsoft: Win32 system error range containing this code — official context relevant to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY.
• Microsoft: AD DS troubleshooting — official context relevant to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY.
• Microsoft: repadmin — official context relevant to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY.
• Microsoft: dcdiag — official context relevant to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY.
• Microsoft: AD and LDS diagnostic event logging — official context relevant to ERROR_DS_MEMBERSHIP_EVALUATED_LOCALLY.

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