How to fix parameter error 0x80070057

Windows is one of the most widely used operating systems, both for PCs and for server systems. This is partly due to the out­stand­ing marketing by its man­u­fac­turer, Microsoft, and partly due to its excellent user-friend­li­ness, which has been con­tinu­ously improved over the years. However, Windows systems are known for their re­l­at­ively high sus­cept­ib­il­ity to errors – and the error messages displayed are often very cryptic, providing in­ex­per­i­enced users with little clue as to what exactly the problem is. One example is error “0x80070057”, which can occur both in the latest edition, Windows 10, and in previous versions, such as Windows 7. The following sections explain what causes this error and how it can be fixed.

The Windows message “0x80070057” rep­res­ents an error caused by invalid arguments or invalid para­met­ers. This is why, in some cases, you will also find the ad­di­tion­al in­form­a­tion “E_IN­VALID­ARG” or “ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER”, which ex­pli­citly refers to these problems. Depending on the action during which the error occurs, very different arguments or prop­er­ties can be involved. In addition, the message sometimes also appears if access to the system operation executed is prevented for other reasons (par­tic­u­larly due to filter drivers). The most common scenarios that lead to the error code “0x80070057” are an automatic Windows update (in Windows 10), backing up files using the Windows Backup function (primarily in Windows 7) and when format­ting the hard disk.

If a Windows function does not work and instead the system displays a message with the error code “0x80070057”, the problem cannot be fixed simply by re­start­ing. Instead, it is necessary to identify and fix the parameter or argument with the error, so that Windows can execute the operation normally again. As the error message does not normally include any in­dic­a­tion of which specific entries or settings led to the error, you have no other option than to try out different possible solutions. The crucial factor is whether the error occurred during a Windows update, when format­ting the hard disk or when backing up files. Therefore, the following solutions are tailored to these different scenarios.

There is no doubt that the Update Center is one of the most important Windows com­pon­ents for all systems that are connected to the Internet or other networks. Microsoft uses it to auto­mat­ic­ally supply you with the latest security updates, bug fixes and features to ensure that your system is as stable and secure as possible in the long term. If the 0x80070057 error occurs during in­stall­a­tion of a new update, you should give it your immediate attention. In the following sections, you will find some of the most promising solutions.

In Windows 10, Microsoft has im­ple­men­ted a new update service, which acquires updates ex­clus­ively from specific Windows Update servers. But if this does not work properly, problems such as the 0x80070057 error are a possible outcome. However, in such cases you can fix the error in just a few steps by re­act­iv­at­ing the old Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 update applet by making a minor change to the registry database.

To do this, create a plain text file (e. g. with Notepad) and add the following content to it:

Now restart the update search to check whether the 0x80070057 problem has been suc­cess­fully fixed.

As well as inserting new entries, deleting old entries in the Windows registry can also help with update errors such as “0x80070057”. It is often the case that the “WUServer” and “WUStatusServ­er” entries have incorrect values if Windows pre­vi­ously had contact with a Windows Update Services Server (WSUS). This is common in server en­vir­on­ments, where there is a choice of using in­di­vidu­al update servers or group policies. To delete this data, first open the registry database using the Registry Editor as follows:

1. Press [Windows key] + [R].
2. Enter “regedit” in the search box and confirm with “OK”.
3. Enter your password if you are prompted to do so.

In the editor, now open the following key:

Now restart the update search to check whether the 0x80070057 problem has been suc­cess­fully fixed.

The parameter error “0x80070057” can also be the result of damaged system files, which is why it is re­com­men­ded that you perform a thorough check on the system files. Windows provides a dedicated tool called System File Checker (SFC) for this purpose, which you can execute using the command prompt, provided you have ad­min­is­trat­or rights. The ap­plic­a­tion checks all system files and then im­me­di­ately starts at­tempt­ing to repair incorrect files found. In any case, SFC displays all the results, which allows you to replace the damaged files yourself if you prefer.

To use the checker, first open the command prompt as an ad­min­is­trat­or:

1. Open the Windows search using the Start menu (Windows icon).
2. Type “cmd” and then right-click “Command Prompt”.
3. Select “Run as ad­min­is­trat­or”.

Now enter the following command in the command line:

In rare cases, third-party ap­plic­a­tions – par­tic­u­larly antivirus software, backup programs, and per­form­ance tools – can prevent the Update Center from accessing the required files. This situation can also result in the 0x80070057 error, which is why you should tem­por­ar­ily disable these kinds of ap­plic­a­tions if you encounter the error message during a Windows update. If you have iden­ti­fied the program causing the problem, you should consider deleting it and replacing it with an al­tern­at­ive.

With the backup and restore tool, Windows provides a dedicated cross-version solution for creating backups of entire drives (including all user files) and loading them when required. If you want to use this feature and then see the 0x80070057 message, this can normally be at­trib­uted to one of two causes: incorrect settings in the Windows locale or a general problem with the “CopyFile” function. The latter is required to copy files from one directory to another. As a result, you have two pos­sib­il­it­ies for solving the file backup problem for yourself.

Although it is not really an error and in most cases does not represent a problem, a data transfer rate that is too slow can cause a 0x80070057 error during a Windows data backup. If you have ad­min­is­trat­or rights, you can try to increase the rate by adjusting the buffering settings for the “CopyFile” function using a cor­res­pond­ing entry in the registry database.

To do this, first launch the Registry Editor by selecting “Run” in the Start menu, entering “regedit” and then clicking “OK”. Then click the following key in the editor:

Before you press the Enter key to add the entry to the database, enter the following name for this new registry entry:

You should then see the entry in the Editor and be able to select it by right-clicking. In the menu that opens, click “Modify” and then enter the value “1” in the “Value” field. Finally, click “OK” and exit the Registry Editor. After a system restart you can attempt a new backup.

If you want to or must reinstall your Windows system, one of the first actions in the In­stall­a­tion Wizard is to format the hard disk par­ti­tions required for the in­stall­a­tion in order to prepare them for the sub­sequent steps. Incorrect para­met­ers or arguments in the partition with the “System Reserved” attribute can lead to the error “0x80070057”, which makes re­in­stalling Windows im­possible. However, the wizard provides you with two different solutions, which are described in the following two sections.

If you are in the process of re­in­stalling Windows using an in­stall­a­tion medium (CD, DVD, USB stick, etc.) and see the error code “0x80070057”, you can attempt to fix the error directly using the In­stall­a­tion Wizard. This enables you to manually delete existing par­ti­tions with parameter errors and then create new par­ti­tions that – unlike the previous partition of the hard disk – can be formatted as intended. To do this, restart the computer using the Windows boot medium and then carry out the following actions:

1. Make the default settings for language, time format, and keyboard or input method, and then start the in­stall­a­tion.
2. Accept the Microsoft license terms and select Custom (advanced) in­stall­a­tion.
3. Select the listed par­ti­tions in turn and delete them using the relevant button, in each case con­firm­ing the delete operation with “OK”.
4. Click “New”, define the required size of the new partition (the default value is the maximum size of the data medium), and create it by clicking “Apply”. To guarantee the func­tion­al­ity of all features, Windows auto­mat­ic­ally creates a second partition (“System Reserved”), which you should confirm using the “OK” button.
5. Select Partition 2 and click the “Format” button.
6. Click "OK” to start format­ting and, once the format­ting process has been completed suc­cess­fully, continue the Windows in­stall­a­tion by clicking “Next”.

The In­stall­a­tion Wizard on the boot medium also provides you with the option of removing prob­lem­at­ic media including par­ti­tions using the command prompt and replacing them with new, undamaged par­ti­tions in order to fix the 0x80070057 error. The following step-by-step in­struc­tions il­lus­trate how to do this:

1. Start the computer using the in­stall­a­tion medium and select “Computer repair options” instead of the “Install now” option.
2. In the next window, click “Command Prompt” to open the command line.
3. Enter the command “diskpart” to launch DiskPart, the program for managing par­ti­tions.
4. Enter the command “list disk” to display all available media and then enter “select disk n” to select the relevant candidate – where “n” rep­res­ents the medium number (e.g. “select disk 0”).
5. Enter “clean” to delete the par­ti­tions on the selected medium.
6. Enter “create partition primary” to create a new primary partition and then select it using “select partition 1”.
7. Enable the new partition on the medium using the command “active” and then perform a complete format­ting with “format fs=ntfs”.
8. When the process is complete, exit DiskPart and the command prompt by typing the command “exit” twice.
9. Try to perform the Windows re­in­stall­a­tion again.

Click here for important legal dis­claim­ers.