title: SPException: Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFF (E_UNEXPECTED) in Sharepoint
body: <p>I've been trying to programmatically copy custom content type and its custom columns from <strong>one web to another </strong> for some time now, and I always get different errors or exceptions every time.  After yet more tries, I received more strange and cryptic exception from Sharepoint after clicking onto a newly copied custom column in a custom content type.  I checked the logs, and this is what I got:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Unknown SPRequest erorr occurred. More information: 0x80070002
  Unable to locate the xml-definition for FieldName with FieldId 'guid without braces', exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Catastrophic failure (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFF (E_UNEXPECTED)) ---&gt; System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException...
  ... at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetGlobalContentTypeXml(String bstrUrl, Int32 type, UInt 32 lcid, Object varIdBytes...
  Failed to find the content type schema for ct-1033-0x1000blahblahblahcontenttypeId while caching feature data.
  Unknown SPRequest error occurred.  More informationL 0x8000ffff
  Unable to locate the xml-definition for CType with SPContentTypeId '0x0100MorecontenttypeId', exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Catastrophic failure(Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED)) ---&gt; System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8000FFFF): Catastrophic failure...
  ... at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetGlobalContentTypeXml(String bstrUrl, Int32 type, UInt 32 lcid, Object varIdBytes...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It failed to find quite a few content type schema.  I'm confused with what Sharepoint is trying to do here, and why a simple process of copying a custom content type from one web to another just wouldn't work in contrast to the information found on the web e.g. <a href="http://stsadm.blogspot.com/2007/08/copy-content-types.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>.</p>
  
  <p>Appreciate any help to get over this problem.  Thanks.</p>