What does Windows error code 14046 (ERROR_SXS_XML_E_MULTIPLE_COLONS) mean?

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: Manifest Parse Error : Multiple colons are not allowed in a name.

Previous	Next
ERROR_SXS_XML_E_EXPECTINGCLOSEQUOTE	ERROR_SXS_XML_E_INVALID_DECIMAL

ERROR_SXS_XML_E_MULTIPLE_COLONS

ERROR_SXS_XML_E_MULTIPLE_COLONS (0x000036DE) is a Windows Side-by-Side XML parser status for application, assembly, policy, or configuration manifest processing.

Namespaces use a colon to separate an optional prefix from a local name. A QName can be an unprefixed name or one prefix:local pair; multiple colons create a token that the namespace-aware parser cannot interpret as one qualified name.

Parser boundary

Namespaces in XML defines QName as either PrefixedName or UnprefixedName, and a prefixed name has exactly one colon between prefix and local part. URI text in an attribute value is different and can contain multiple colons as data.

What to inspect

Inspect the element or attribute name at the trace location and distinguish it from a namespace URI value such as urn:....
Correct generated names like a:b:c by choosing one namespace prefix and a valid local name.
Verify matching xmlns:prefix declarations after renaming the qualified name so namespace binding remains consistent.

The SxS trace identifies the qualified-name token that failed; do not remove colons from URI-valued attributes that are ordinary XML data.

References

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