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ERROR_HV_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFERS
ERROR_HV_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFERS is HRESULT 0xC0350013 in the hypervisor message submission area of the Windows virtualization stack. It applies to the set of buffers or descriptors supplied for a hypervisor message operation.
Object lifecycle behind the result
The message path did not receive enough buffer entries to describe or carry the operation. The plural form is significant: investigate descriptor count and message construction, not only the capacity of one output structure.
This result belongs to the hypervisor facility rather than the higher-level VM management UI. The TLFS and WHP documentation provide the surrounding partition, message, memory, and virtual-processor model, but the first low-level operation and any nested status remain the authoritative incident evidence.
Neighboring result: ERROR_HV_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER concerns one buffer that is too small; this result points to an insufficient collection of buffers for message submission.
Diagnostic evidence matrix
| Evidence | Why it changes the diagnosis |
|---|---|
| Message operation | Record the hypercall, driver request, or virtualization-stack operation and the message type. |
| Descriptor vector | Capture buffer count, length of every element, alignment, flags, and total payload bytes. |
| Protocol limits | Keep the negotiated message format and any maximum element or payload count. |
| Concurrency | Record whether descriptors are reused, released early, or modified by another thread. |
Test one variable at a time
- Validate the required descriptor count before entering the hypervisor path.
- Keep descriptor storage alive and immutable until completion is observed.
- Compare a one-element known-good message with the failing scatter/gather shape.
- Do not convert this status into a generic out-of-memory retry loop.
Exercise this result with bounded producers and a fully instrumented consumer. Preserve message ordering, queue generation, handler ownership, target VP, and acknowledgement timestamps while changing only one concurrency condition.
How to read the controls
| Control | Interpretation | Hold constant |
|---|---|---|
| Single producer and consumer | If it disappears with serialized ownership, the queue, handler, acknowledgement, or delivery race is implicated. | Preserve message type, partition, target VP, and queue capacity. |
| Fresh channel generation | A new queue or handler generation changing it points to stale registration, backlog, or incomplete teardown. | Keep payload, producer order, and host build unchanged in the test. |
| Controlled stall or burst | Deliberately slow the consumer or bound the producer rate. The threshold at which it appears identifies backpressure versus lifecycle failure. | Record queue depth, oldest-item age, and acknowledgement timing. |
Scope of this status
Keep the hexadecimal result value and any nested hypervisor status. Higher layers can map distinct resource, buffer, message, or state failures to the same generic start or migration message.
Regression proof
A valid repair sends the original message with the documented number of stable descriptors and also rejects a deliberately undersized descriptor vector predictably.
Technical references
- Microsoft Open Specifications: HRESULT values — used to interpret this result.
- Microsoft TLFS: inter-partition communication — used to interpret this result.
- Microsoft TLFS: HV_MESSAGE — used to interpret this result.
- Microsoft: Hyper-V architecture — used to interpret this result.
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