0XC00D2737: License Storage Broken on Hard Drive

You're trying to play protected content—maybe a rented movie from the Store, or a premium audio track—and instead you get 0XC00D2737 (NS_E_DRM_LICENSE_OPEN_ERROR). What's actually happening here is Windows Media Foundation can't open the license store on your hard drive. The error says "license storage is not working," which is Microsoft's way of telling you the folder where DRM licenses live is either locked down by permissions, corrupted, or flat-out missing.

I've seen this most often on Windows 10 build 1909 through 22H2, and occasionally on Windows 11 after a feature update that botches the %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady directory. Let's walk through the three most common causes in order of likelihood.

1. Corrupted PlayReady Folder

The PlayReady folder stores per-user and per-machine license files. If a crash or power loss happens while writing there, the folder can end up with half-written files that look valid to the OS but aren't. The fix is to delete the folder and let Windows rebuild it.

1. Press Win + R, type %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft, and hit Enter.
2. Delete the entire PlayReady folder. Yes, the whole thing. Windows will recreate it fresh next time a DRM call triggers.
3. Reboot. Not restart—full shutdown and power on. Some DRM components cache permissions across restarts.

Why this works: Windows checks for the folder on first DRM request after boot. If it's missing, it creates a clean one with default permissions. If the folder exists but is corrupted, Windows tries to read it, finds garbage, and throws 0XC00D2737. Deleting forces a clean rebuild.

Real-world trigger: You installed a game pass title, played it once, then Windows Update ran a cumulative update in the background. The update rebooted your machine mid-write to the PlayReady folder. Next launch: error.

If deleting the folder doesn't work, check that your antivirus isn't locking it. Temporarily disable real-time scanning, delete the folder again, and reboot. Bitdefender and Norton are notorious for holding file locks on %PROGRAMDATA% subdirectories.

2. Incorrect NTFS Permissions on the License Store

The PlayReady folder needs specific permissions: SYSTEM and Administrators with Full Control, and Users with Read & Execute. If an app or a user account control tweak changed those, the DRM service can't write new licenses.

Check and fix permissions:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt (right-click Start -> Terminal (Admin)).
2. Run:
   icacls "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady"
   Look for NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F) and BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F). If Users doesn't show (RX), you'll get this error.
3. Fix by running:
   icacls "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady" /grant "Users":(OI)(CI)RX
   Then reboot.

The reason step 3 works: the (OI)(CI) flags apply the permission to object inherit (files) and container inherit (subfolders). Without them, new license files created by the DRM service won't inherit the proper rights, and the service can't open them back for reading.

I've also seen this happen after running a system cleaner like CCleaner's registry fix. It sometimes strips the Users group from program data folders. Don't run registry cleaners. Ever.

3. Corrupted User Profile or License Cache

Less common, but when permissions and folder rebuild fail, the problem is inside your user profile. DRM licenses are also cached per-user under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady. If that profile-specific store is corrupted, the global fix won't help.

1. Close all apps that use DRM—Store, Netflix app, games.
2. Press Win + R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady, delete the entire folder.
3. Now press Win + R, type %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\PlayReady, delete that folder too.
4. Reboot.

This clears both the machine-wide and per-user stores. Windows will recreate them on the next DRM request. If that still fails, create a new local admin user account and test DRM playback there. If it works, your original profile has deeper corruption. Migrate your data and ditch the old profile.

When this happens: You switched from a Microsoft account to a local account, or vice versa, without signing out of store apps first. The license cache from the old identity remains but the new identity can't access it.

Quick-Reference Summary

One final note: if none of these work, you're likely dealing with a system file corruption beyond the DRM store. Run sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth in that order. I've seen two cases where a faulty storage driver—specifically Intel RST version 17.x—caused write failures to %PROGRAMDATA% that manifested as 0XC00D2737. Updating the RST driver to 18.x or later fixed it. Check your chipset drivers if you've exhausted every other option.