dotnet/wpf · error · FileFormatException

Document does not contain any rights management-protected…

Error message

Document does not contain any rights management-protected streams.

What it means

After scanning all transforms in the data space, no RightsManagementEncryptionTransform was found, meaning the document has no RM-protected streams. Open of an EncryptedPackageEnvelope requires at least one, so FileFormatException is thrown.

Solutions

Open unprotected packages with Package.Open / OpfXpsHelper instead of EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Open
Check for the RM transform (e.g. via GetDataSpaceManager) before attempting RM-specific open
If the file should be protected, re-protect it by creating a new EncryptedPackageEnvelope from the plain package

Example fix

// before
var env = EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Open(path); // throws if not RM-protected
// after
if (IsRightsManaged(path)) { var env = EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Open(path); }
else { var pkg = Package.Open(path); }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

var dsm = StorageInfo.Open(path).GetDataSpaceManager();
bool hasRm = dsm.GetDataTransforms().Any(t => string.Equals(t.TransformIdentifier, RightsManagementEncryptionTransform.ClassTransformIdentifier, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
if (!hasRm) { /* open as plain package instead */ }

Try / catch

try { var env = EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Open(path); }
catch (FileFormatException) { var pkg = Package.Open(path); /* unprotected path */ }

Prevention

Check for the RM transform before choosing the RM open API
Use Package.Open for unprotected packages
Re-protect plain packages via EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Create when RM is required

When it happens

Trigger: EncryptedPackageEnvelope.Open on a compound file that contains a package stream but whose DataSpaceManager has no transform matching the RM class identifier — e.g. a plain (unprotected) XPS/package stored in a compound file, or a file whose transform entries were stripped.

Common situations: Opening a normal OPC/XPS package in compound-file form with the RM-aware Open API; opening a file whose encryption transform was removed by another tool; wrong API chosen for unprotected documents.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dotnet/wpf@81131a70a4 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/836a624102d99f7c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Microsoft.DotNet.Wpf/src/WindowsBase/System/IO/Packaging/EncryptedPackage.cs:908

            foreach (IDataTransform dataTransform in transforms)
            {
                if (dataTransform.TransformIdentifier is string id &&
                    string.Equals(id, RightsManagementEncryptionTransform.ClassTransformIdentifier, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
                {
                    // Do not allow more than one RM Transform
                    if (rmet != null)
                    {
                        throw new FileFormatException(SR.MultipleRightsManagementEncryptionTransformFound);
                    }

                    rmet = dataTransform as RightsManagementEncryptionTransform;
                }
            }

            if (rmet == null)
            {
                throw new FileFormatException(SR.RightsManagementEncryptionTransformNotFound);
            }

            //
            //  There is no reason to further push initialization of the Rights Management 
            //  data (parsing publish / use license). It will add unnecessary costs to the 
            //  scenarios where RM license are not relevant, for example indexing and 
            //  working with document properties            
            //
            
            //
            // Make the rights management information stored in the compound file
            // available to the application through the RightsManagementInformation
            // property.
            //
            _rmi = new RightsManagementInformation(rmet);
        }

        /// <summary>

View on GitHub (pinned to 81131a70a4)