ERROR_ILLEGAL_CHARACTER 0x80070246

Error code 582 · HRESULT 0x80070246

WINDOWS

An illegal character was encountered. For a multi-byte character set this includes a lead byte without a succeeding trail byte. For the Unicode character set this includes the characters 0xFFFF and 0xFFFE.

Windows troubleshooting diagram: Device Manager warning and a system file scan
Windows errors: check drivers, system files and Event Viewer, in that order.

What it means

ERROR_ILLEGAL_CHARACTER is a Windows error code (system error 582, returned as HRESULT 0x80070246) reported by Windows. Its official message is: “An illegal character was encountered. For a multi-byte character set this includes a lead byte without a succeeding trail byte. For the Unicode character set this includes the characters 0xFFFF and 0xFFFE.”

How to fix ERROR_ILLEGAL_CHARACTER

  1. Reboot once — many one-off system codes disappear with a clean restart
  2. Repair system files: 'sfc /scannow' then 'DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth'
  3. Find the source in Event Viewer → System: filter for this exact code and open its provider link

Related errors

ERROR_ILLEGAL_FLOAT_CONTEXTERROR_ILLEGAL_DLL_RELOCATIONERROR_ILLEGAL_ELEMENT_ADDRESSERROR_DOMAIN_CTRLR_CONFIG_ERRORERROR_UNDEFINED_CHARACTERERROR_NO_EVENT_PAIR

Source: Microsoft WinError.h

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