What does HRESULT 0xC0AAB15E (IMAPI_E_IMPORT_TYPE_COLLISION_DIRECTORY_EXISTS_AS_FILE) mean?

IMAPI_E_IMPORT_TYPE_COLLISION_DIRECTORY_EXISTS_AS_FILE

IMAPI_E_IMPORT_TYPE_COLLISION_DIRECTORY_EXISTS_AS_FILE is a path-type collision during session import. The source filesystem contains a directory where the current in-memory IFileSystemImage hierarchy already has a file. A file object cannot be merged with an imported directory at the same path.

Inspect content added before the previous session is imported

• Log the full conflicting path and the source filesystem being imported.
• Check whether application code created or added the file before calling the import method.
• Rename or remove the conflicting in-memory file only when that change matches the intended new-session layout.

The direction is the reverse of IMAPI_E_IMPORT_TYPE_COLLISION_FILE_EXISTS_AS_DIRECTORY. Recording the exact existing item type matters because it tells you which part of the pre-import tree caused the conflict. Importing earlier in the build pipeline can avoid accidental collisions when the application otherwise adds new content before learning the previous-session hierarchy.

ImportFileSystem · IFileSystemImage · Creating a multisession disc