What does HRESULT 0x80220006 (WCM_E_INVALIDVALUEFORMAT) mean?

WCM_E_INVALIDVALUEFORMAT

The Windows SDK describes the condition as “Value is in invalid format.”

What the HRESULT establishes

A setting value cannot be parsed in the required format. The operation reached conversion of serialized or textual configuration data into the metadata-declared type. The first branch to test is whether a number contains locale-specific separators not accepted by the schema; keep that separate from the possibility that a Boolean, GUID, date, or version uses a human-readable form different from the expected lexical form.

Processing stage

At this boundary, capture the exact source text before XML/entity decoding, then correlate it with declared WcmDataType and setting metadata. Assign ownership only after checking culture and language assumptions of the authoring tool.

Failure patterns to separate

• a number contains locale-specific separators not accepted by the schema
• a Boolean, GUID, date, or version uses a human-readable form different from the expected lexical form
• whitespace, quoting, or escaping changed while XML was generated
• a binary or encoded field was truncated or normalized by an intermediate tool

Capture these facts first

• the exact source text before XML/entity decoding
• declared WcmDataType and setting metadata
• culture and language assumptions of the authoring tool
• ISettingsResult line, column, source path, and context description
• a minimal known-good lexical example for the same setting

A safe investigation order

• Preserve the original token and compare it character by character with the required format
• serialize through a type-aware writer instead of string concatenation
• Test parsing before merging the value into a larger answer file
• Keep locale-neutral formatting for deployment metadata
• revalidate the final emitted stream, not only the in-memory value

Recovery conditions

Correct the lexical form before retrying. Changing target state cannot make malformed text parse successfully.

Do not confuse it with adjacent codes

WCM_E_INVALIDVALUE says a parsed value violates the contract; WCM_E_INVALIDDATATYPE says the supplied or stored type is wrong. This code is specifically about representation.

Deployment example

A date value is emitted using a localized display format. The type is known, but SMI cannot parse the token expected by the schema.

Official Microsoft references.

• Microsoft: SMI error and success constants.
• Microsoft: Settings Management Infrastructure API.
• Microsoft: SMI interfaces.
• Microsoft: WcmDataType.
• Microsoft: ISettingsItem::GetDataType.