Many of you must be using windows on your system, or be troubleshooting other operating systems like me. If you worked on Windows then you must have come across issues where you only get the are weird error code and you don’t know any way to move further until you do a google search like “Error Code 0x00” or ” Windows update error code” or “Windows Stop code“. Doing google is not bad but if you come across these issues like every day you need some more than google, you want to know what is the reason and what does it mean.

As a simple example when I joined MS I used to work on Windows update, Backup VSS Related issues and sometimes we only used to get an Error Like 0x8000005

Now I used to research on google and I was able to find the steps or plans which I can use but was not able to understand, what this error stands for until I met this small encyclopedia which goes with the Name Err.exe.

A very small yet very powerful tool capable of decoding almost all the errors associated with Microsoft. This tool is created by MS so you don’t need to worry about Malware of viruses. You can download it from the Link: Microsoft Link 

It works with multiple sources, so running ERR 0x8000005 will show where the error code exists in windows headers and other commonly used places.

Error Code Exanples

Here’s an example of using Err.exe to look up the possible meanings of COM error code 0x80004005:

PS C:\> .\Err.exe 0x8000005
# for hex 0x5 / decimal 5
 BTH_ERROR_AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE bthdef.h
 INVALID_PROCESS_ATTACH_ATTEMPT bugcodes.h
# Move your finger more slowly on the fingerprint reader.
 CMC_STATUS_CONFIRM_REQUIRED wincrypt.h
 CMC_FAIL_UNSUPORTED_EXT wincrypt.h
 ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED winerror.h
# Access is denied.
 LDAP_COMPARE_FALSE winldap.h
 SNMP_ERROR_GENERR winsnmp.h

Under all the Errors you can find the same error code can come with multiple programs, most common of them all is Windows OS which generally goes with the Module: winerror.h

Based on this we can have a small understanding that the issue that we are facing is because we don’t have access, and now it can make our life easier as now we just need to give the required permissions.

Another Example is: 0x80004005 

PS C:\> .\Err.exe 0x80000002
# for hex 0x80000002 / decimal -2147483646
STATUS_DATATYPE_MISALIGNMENT ntstatus.h
# {EXCEPTION}
# Alignment Fault
# A datatype misalignment was detected in a load or store
# instruction.
DRM_E_OUTOFMEMORY windowsplayready.h
E_OUTOFMEMORY winerror.h
# Ran out of memory
# as an HRESULT: Severity: FAILURE (1), FACILITY_NULL (0x0), Code 0x2
ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND winerror.h
# The system cannot find the file specified.

Now as I mentioned earlier if we look for winerror.h we can see that this error can come because of two reasons:

1. Either the file that we are looking for is not present.
2. Either the System ran out of Memory.

Once you have narrowed your issue to two possibilities can easily worked your way out for a Solution.

Application:

Now to run on your computer follow the below instructions:

1. Download the Err Tool from the link: Microsoft Link. (Please note this is an MS Link, so you don’t need to work about malware or virus)
2. Paste the downloaded file at the location which you can easily access from Command Prompt. In my case, I keep it at the root of C as it’s easy to reach there from the command prompt.
3. Open Command Prompt by typing CMD in the Start menu.
4. Do a Change Directory to C: by running the command:
   
   1. cd C:
5. Now run the command with the Error Code:
   
   1. ERR_6.4.5.exe 0x80000002

To have more information on the Windows Error Code please refer to the MS Website: System Error Code ( 0-499 )

Incase if you want got a Windows Stop code also known as Blue Screen of Death please refer to : Bug check Code Reference