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CI_E_DISK_FULL
The underlying index volume has no usable free space
CI_E_DISK_FULL is HRESULT 0x80041811. Windows documents it as “The disk is full and the specified operation cannot be done.”
API stage and meaning
This result belongs to writing catalog, property-store or temporary indexing data. The filesystem cannot satisfy the write required by the current content-index operation.
Failure paths
- The volume is physically full.
- Reserved space or quotas block the service.
- Temporary filtering data consumes the remaining capacity.
- Another workload fills the disk during indexing.
Compare the failing case with a control that preserves volume identity and free bytes and changes only quota/reservation state; this prevents unrelated environment differences from dominating the test.
Observability checklist
- At step 1, volume identity and free bytes
- At step 2, quota/reservation state
- At step 3, path receiving the failed write
- At step 4, growth rate and largest catalog files
Capture volume identity and free bytes before releasing objects, closing handles or reconnecting. Retain the raw HRESULT with quota/reservation state, component version, UTC timestamp and correlation ID.
How to isolate the cause
- Measure free space from the service context.
- Identify the exact catalog or temporary path.
- Separate filesystem full from configured catalog limit.
- Check for runaway retries or orphaned temporary files.
Preserve the component version and target identity, then alter only the condition described as the filesystem cannot satisfy the write required by the current content-index operation.
Remediation policy
Free or extend storage and verify catalog consistency before bounded retry. Do not delete catalog files manually while the service owns them. Record whether writing catalog, property-store or temporary indexing data produced any content, update or state transition before returning.
Retry only after a concrete change in volume identity and free bytes or quota/reservation state.
Wrong conclusions to avoid
It does not mean the configured content-index size ceiling was reached. Without the call boundary for writing catalog, property-store or temporary indexing data, it also cannot identify which wrapper or configuration layer introduced the condition.
Comparison
CI_E_CONFIG_DISK_FULL is a configured limit; it reflects actual write capacity.
Developer and administrator actions
- Record volume identity and free bytes with the returned HRESULT.
- In telemetry, correlate quota/reservation state with the target and component generation.
- For regression coverage, force the documented condition: the filesystem cannot satisfy the write required by the current content-index operation.
- For operations staff, expose the corrective state change rather than a generic retry button.
- After remediation, validate one known-good control and the original failing case.
Worked scenario
A catalog shares a volume with verbose logs that consume the final gigabytes. Volume-level telemetry identifies the external growth source.
Official Microsoft references
- Microsoft: content-indexing helper-function values — official contract information relevant to this HRESULT.
- Microsoft: Content-Indexing values
- Microsoft: HRESULT values
- Microsoft: Windows Search SQL syntax
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