What does NTSTATUS 0xC01E0008 (STATUS_GRAPHICS_CANNOTCOLORCONVERT) mean?

STATUS_GRAPHICS_CANNOTCOLORCONVERT

STATUS_GRAPHICS_CANNOTCOLORCONVERT means that the presentation path could not perform the required color conversion. This is more specific than a generic mode failure: a source format, color basis, color-space transform, target capability, or presentation path requirement did not form a usable combination.

Collect the source pixel format, requested color space or transform, output mode, HDR or SDR state, and the target that received the request. A resolution-only comparison is insufficient because the VidPN path also carries color and content-transformation constraints.

Diagnostic boundaries

• Keep source-format validation separate from monitor capability discovery and profile selection.
• Compare the requested transformation with the active output path rather than with a capability cached before a dock or GPU switch.
• Do not silently substitute a different color interpretation without recording the fallback; that can turn a controlled failure into an incorrect image.

For modern multi-GPU or display-switch scenarios, capture both the source and target configuration because a switch is expected to preserve display attributes such as color profile and HDR state when it is seamless.

References

• Microsoft: NTSTATUS reference
• Microsoft: WDDM color, transform, and VidPN data types
• Microsoft: display-switch attributes