What does HRESULT 0x80310053 (FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION) mean?

Status / error code:

Category:

Constant name:

Source:

Facility:

Operating System:

Description:

BitLocker Drive Encryption can only be used for limited provisioning or recovery purposes when the computer is running in pre-installation or recovery environments.

Previous	Next
FVE_E_BCD_APPLICATIONS_PATH_INCORRECT	FVE_E_NO_AUTOUNLOCK_MASTER_KEY

FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION

What BitLocker has already established

At HRESULT 0x80310053, BitLocker has determined that the current Windows PE, recovery environment or product mode exposes only limited BitLocker provisioning or recovery operations. The FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION code does not by itself say that the volume master key is lost or that user data is corrupt.

Operational boundary: policy and authorization.

For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, note: BitLocker evaluates the target volume together with effective Group Policy or MDM policy, Windows edition, caller authorization and the requested protector or management method. When diagnosing FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, remember: A policy HRESULT therefore describes a rejected configuration decision, not evidence that encrypted sectors are damaged. For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, note: A managed restriction is part of the security design. When diagnosing FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, remember: Record which authority delivered it and whether the requested operation is mandatory for compliance or merely a convenience feature.

Data to preserve before changing state

For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, record boot environment, Windows image version, requested method, target volume role and whether the operation is provisioning, recovery or full configuration. For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, keep the full HRESULT and the first method that returned it because later cleanup calls can report a different state.
For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, capture manage-bde -status and the protector inventory for the exact volume GUID, not only the drive letter, because letters can change in WinRE, clusters and deployment environments.
Export BitLocker operational events for the FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION failure and note the boot session, caller identity and management source; that evidence separates this BitLocker condition from a generic access or storage error.

Related state to rule out

Do not merge this incident with FVE_E_NO_LICENSE, which is an edition entitlement issue in a normal installed operating system. If both appear with FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION in one trace, preserve ordering because the first HRESULT normally identifies the prerequisite that caused later cleanup or fallback messages.

How to retest without losing evidence

Perform only supported offline recovery/provisioning steps there and finish policy/protector configuration after booting the full operating system.

After correcting the FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION prerequisite, refresh protection, conversion and lock state before one controlled retry; a cached UI message is not proof that the FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION condition is still active.
Before a FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION remediation deletes protectors, changes firmware mode, resizes partitions or decrypts a production drive, verify that an independent recovery method is available and escrowed in the intended directory or account.

manage-bde -status
gpresult /h bitlocker-policy.html

For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, diagnosis should be driven by the target object, effective policy and captured state snapshot rather than by a generic remediation applied to every BitLocker error.

State checks specific to FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION

Checkpoint	How to interpret it for FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION
Before the call	Record the target identity and the pre-call policy and authorization state. For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, the decisive boundary is that the current Windows PE, recovery environment or product mode exposes only limited BitLocker provisioning or recovery operations.
At failure	Preserve boot environment, Windows image version, requested method, target volume role and whether the operation is provisioning, recovery or full configuration. This proves whether FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION came from BitLocker itself or from a wrapper translating another result.
After correction	Perform only supported offline recovery/provisioning steps there and finish policy/protector configuration after booting the full operating system. The FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION request should then advance without removing an unrelated recovery route.
After reboot or remount	Recheck protection, conversion and lock state for FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION; a successful management call is incomplete if the next boot cannot unlock the volume.

Verification after the change

For FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION, success means more than the absence of a dialog. Confirm that the condition represented by FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION now matches the intended design, that the protector inventory has not lost an independent recovery route, and that the next reboot or remount can unlock the volume. If the FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION request advances to another HRESULT, record both values in order because that transition reveals the next unmet prerequisite.

Microsoft references

Reference set for FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_IN_VERSION:

Looking for a different code? Search another status or error code.