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hrDatabaseInconsistent
What this return value changes
For hrDatabaseInconsistent, a correct handler first decides whether the value is success, warning, or failure, then examines the documented outputs. The decisive boundary is the database is not in a clean transaction-consistent state and requires recovery before normal use.
The stored Value is 0xC8000226 (negative JET error -550; -550). The HRESULT carries failure severity, so output state must be treated according to the individual API contract. Current ESE documentation uses JET_errDatabaseInconsistent / JET_errDatabaseDirtyShutdown for the corresponding published JET condition.
The first useful distinction is that the legacy name is associated with dirty-shutdown semantics, not necessarily irreversible physical damage. Start by inspect database state, consistent log position/time, required generation range, last shutdown, and available logs. That separates a reproducible incident from a later generic cleanup or service error.
Objects and state involved
| Diagnostic layer | database, patch, log, and backup metadata that establish one recoverable lineage |
|---|---|
| Relevant API surface | hard recovery, database-header inspection, patch application, and post-restore validation |
| Code-specific boundary | the database is not in a clean transaction-consistent state and requires recovery before normal use |
| Narrow corrective direction | run supported recovery with the matching log set or restore a verified backup; do not attach the file as clean |
A hard-recovery failure leaves the restored database invalid; retry begins from a fresh restored copy., database state, signature, page size, consistent time, and required logs must agree.
Evidence worth preserving
Preserve the first result before retries, cleanup, service restart, or file replacement changes the evidence. The diagnostic record should identify the exact API phase and the owner of every handle or artifact involved.
- Code-specific observation: inspect database state, consistent log position/time, required generation range, last shutdown, and available logs.
- Database header and state: record it together with this result and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- Signatures, page size, and hashes: record it together with this result and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- Backup identity and restore map: record it together with this result and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- Required log positions: record it together with this result and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
Use hashes, lengths, IDs, generation numbers, and redacted samples instead of copying directory contents or sensitive database values into routine logs. For this it investigation, a complete provenance chain is often more useful than a second automatic retry.
How to distinguish nearby results
It specifically means that the legacy name is associated with dirty-shutdown semantics, not necessarily irreversible physical damage. Related values below can appear in the same workflow but require a different response:
hrBadBackupDatabaseSize | the backed-up database file length is not aligned to the database page-size boundary expected by ESE |
|---|---|
hrRecoveredWithErrors | repair or restore completed far enough to produce output but encountered errors that affect confidence in the result |
hrConsistentTimeMismatch | the database last-consistent timestamp does not match the recovery or backup lineage being applied |
Keep the original constant and hexadecimal value in telemetry. Replacing it with “backup failed” or “database warning” removes the state information needed to select the next legal API call.
A safe response sequence
- Record it,
0xC8000226, the API name, the current phase, and all live context or file owners. - Verify the decisive condition by inspect database state, consistent log position/time, required generation range, last shutdown, and available logs.
- Apply only the narrow correction: run supported recovery with the matching log set or restore a verified backup; do not attach the file as clean.
- After it, recreate any context invalidated by the failure; do not carry stale HBC, cursor, file, or restore-map state into the retry.
- repeat the smallest non-destructive test that reaches the same boundary, then verify both the return value and the resulting file, cursor, backup, or database state.
Actions that can make diagnosis worse
- do not modify the only backup copy in place.
- do not attach a dirty or mismatched database as if it were clean.
- do not discard the first lower-level Win32, RPC, or JET result merely because a later cleanup call returned a more familiar error.
Acceptance criteria for a fix
A useful regression test for this HRESULT should force the condition “the database is not in a clean transaction-consistent state and requires recovery before normal use”, call one documented API transition, and assert the exact HRESULT. The corrected the case should change only the decisive precondition and should verify cleanup as well as the primary output. For the result backup or restore path, also prove that the resulting set can be enumerated and that no file handle or context remains active after finalization.
Technical references
- JetExternalRestore behavior — API ordering, file semantics, warning/error interpretation, or recovery behavior relevant to it.
- Database header information
- ESE error-code table
- Microsoft JET_ERR enumeration
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