What does Windows error code 5896 (ERROR_CLUSTER_EVICT_WITHOUT_CLEANUP) mean?

ERROR_CLUSTER_EVICT_WITHOUT_CLEANUP

ERROR_CLUSTER_EVICT_WITHOUT_CLEANUP means the node was evicted successfully, but some local cleanup did not finish. The cluster membership change succeeded; the remaining task is to determine which cleanup action failed.

Preserve the successful eviction as a separate fact from the cleanup failure. Inspect the evicted node for residual cluster configuration and service state before attempting another join or manually removing files and registry data.

What to check

• Review the FailoverClustering application and System events on the evicted node for the specific cleanup failure.
• Do not attempt to rejoin the node until stale services, configuration, or storage state are understood.
• If the node will return, follow the supported cleanup and validation sequence before adding it back.

Get-ClusterLog -UseLocalTime -Destination C:\Temp

Microsoft: Troubleshoot Cluster service startup

Microsoft: Validate hardware for a failover cluster

Microsoft: Get-ClusterLog