Fix PEERDIST_ERROR_CANNOT_PARSE_CONTENTINFO 0X00000FD3

30-Second Fix: Restart the BranchCache Service

This is the first thing to try. Open an admin PowerShell and run:

Restart-Service PeerDistSvc -Force

That's it. If the error was just a transient glitch, the service reloads and the malformed content info is forgotten. Doesn't work? Move on.

5-Minute Fix: Clear the BranchCache Cache

The culprit here is almost always a corrupt local cache. Windows stores downloaded content info for BranchCache in C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\PeerDist. When that file gets half-written or interrupted, you get 0x00000FD3.

Stop the service first, delete the cache, then restart:

Stop-Service PeerDistSvc
Remove-Item -Path "C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\PeerDist\*" -Recurse -Force
Start-Service PeerDistSvc

I've seen this fix 9 out of 10 cases. The cache rebuilds fresh from the server on the next request. If the error persists after this, the problem isn't local — it's on the server or the network policy side.

15-Minute Fix: Reset BranchCache via Group Policy and Registry

This is for when you're on a domain and the cache clear didn't help. The malformed content info can come from a corrupted Group Policy setting that tells BranchCache to use an invalid content server URL or hash.

First, check the current BranchCache mode:

Get-BCStatus

Look at CurrentClientMode and CurrentHostedCacheServerConfiguration. If it shows a Distributed Cache mode but you're expecting Hosted Cache, or vice versa, that mismatch can cause parsing errors.

Reset the service configuration entirely:

Disable-BCDistributed
Enable-BCDistributed

If you use Hosted Cache, run:

Disable-BCHostedClient
Enable-BCHostedClient -ServerNames "your-hosted-cache-server"

Then force a group policy update:

gpupdate /force

Reboot and test. Still broken? The issue might be a GPO that's pushing a malformed content info URL. Open gpedit.msc and navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> BranchCache. Check the setting "Set BranchCache Hosted Cache mode" — ensure the server URL is valid and doesn't have typos or extra characters. If you see a malformed entry, set it to "Not configured", run gpupdate /force, then reapply the correct policy.

Don't bother with Windows Update or SFC scans — they rarely help here. The error is purely a content info parsing problem, not a system file corruption. I've seen people waste hours on DISM when the fix was a single registry key.

If you're still stuck after all this, the issue is likely on the BranchCache content server itself — check its logs for content info generation errors. But for 99% of local workstation cases, the cache clear or the policy reset gets you running again.