Looking Up Cryptic Error Codes

All PowerShell versions

Often, WMI and API calls return cryptic numeric error codes. To find out what went wrong, try this little helper function:

function Get-HelpForErrorCode([String]$Code)
{
  if ($Code.StartsWith('-'))
  {
    $Code = '{0:X8}' -f ([Int32]$Code)
  }
  $url = "http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Logon/code/code_$Code.htm"
  Start-Process -FilePath $url
} 

You can submit any decimal or hexadecimal error code, and the function opens the appropriate web page where the error is explained (if information is available):

 
PS> Get-HelpForErrorCode -2146828235
 

The website will display information similar to this:

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