Fix Windows Error 0x80070057: Invalid Parameter

Quick Answer

Run sfc /scannow in an admin Command Prompt, then DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. If that doesn't fix it, delete the {GUID} registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList that corresponds to a corrupted user profile. That covers 80% of cases.

Why This Happens

Error 0x80070057 is Windows's way of saying "you gave me something that makes no sense." The "parameter is incorrect" message is vague on purpose—Microsoft doesn't want to leak internal details. But what's actually happening here is one of three things:

A system file or registry entry is corrupted, usually from a bad update, a sudden power loss, or a dying drive.
An NTFS volume's metadata is damaged—often the $Volume information or the Master File Table (MFT).
A user profile's SID registry key has become invalid, typically after a domain migration or a failed Windows upgrade.

I've seen this error pop up in Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 23H2 most often when someone tries to shrink a volume in Disk Management or install a cumulative update. The disk operations trigger the error because Windows can't read the volume's size parameter correctly.

Fix Steps

Run SFC and DISM
Open Command Prompt as Administrator. Type sfc /scannow. Let it finish—it'll take 5-15 minutes. SFC checks system files against a cached copy. If it finds corruption, it'll try to replace them from that cache. After SFC, run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. DISM uses Windows Update to download fresh system files. This combo fixes about 60% of 0x80070057 errors.
Check the disk for errors
In the same admin prompt, run chkdsk C: /f (replace C: with your affected drive). It'll tell you it needs to schedule a check on next reboot. Say yes, restart. CHKDSK will scan and repair file system metadata. This matters because a corrupted $Bitmap or $LogFile can trick Windows into thinking a parameter is invalid.
Delete a corrupted user profile registry key
If the error occurs when logging in or launching apps, the problem is likely a busted profile. Open regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. Look for subkeys with names like S-1-5-21-.... Each is a user SID. Click each one and check the State value. If it's 0 (inactive) and RefCount is missing or 0, delete that entire key. Restart the computer. Windows will rebuild the profile on next login—but note: you'll lose that user's app settings and customizations.
Repair Windows Update components
If the error appears during updates, the update database itself might be broken. Open admin Command Prompt and run:
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Then delete C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and C:\Windows\System32\catroot2. Restart the stopped services with net start wuauserv etc. This forces Windows Update to rebuild its download cache. I've had to do this on Windows 11 machines where the update catalog got corrupted after a forced restart.
Use the Windows Update Troubleshooter
I know, built-in troubleshooters are usually useless. But the Windows Update one (Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters > Windows Update) actually does something useful here: it resets the BITS service and the update database. It's a softer version of step 4.

Alternative Fixes If the Main Ones Fail

System Restore—roll back to a point before the error started. This only works if System Protection was on. Check with rstrui.exe. If the restore point is recent enough (within a week), this can undo whatever corruption the error was caused by.
Reset this PC—in Settings > System > Recovery, choose "Keep my files." This reinstalls Windows but keeps your personal data. It's nuclear but fixes registry corruption that SFC and DISM can't touch.
Boot from installation media and run SFC from WinRE—if you can't even boot into Windows, use a USB stick with Windows setup. At the install screen, press Shift+F10, then run sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows. This targets the offline Windows installation directly.

Prevention Tip

Don't let your drive fill up past 90% usage. Windows's NTFS operations—like defrag, compression, and shadow copies—need free space to work correctly. When the drive is too full, file system metadata writes can fail silently, leading to errors like 0x80070057 weeks later. Also, run chkdsk /f once every three months on SSDs, monthly on HDDs. Yes, even on SSDs—TRIM doesn't fix file system corruption.