Microstructural investigations on hexagonal cadmium films, considering a number ofH−K=3N(namely, 00.2, 10.0, 11.0, 00.4,N1.2, and 20.0) andH−K= 3N±1 (namely, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 20.1, 10.4, 20.2 and 20.3) x‐ray diffraction profiles recorded in a counter diffractometer, were done by detailed Fourier analysis of lineshape and also integral breadth measurements. The films, in the thickness range of ∠200–3300 Å, were vapor deposited for both normal and oblique (∠46° to the substrate normal) vapor incidences. For both the source positions Fourier lineshape analysis of the fault‐unaffected (H−K=3N) reflections indicate that the effects from the average domain size and rms strain are relatively large in the thin range ≲600 Å, and these decrease at higher thickness ∠3300 Å. The size and strain values along [00.2] are found to be close to the average ones depicting the near isotropy in these parameters. As regards the effective domain size values evaluated for fault‐affected (H−K=3N±1) reflections, it has been observed that the size values forL0odd reflections are more than those ofL0even for films ≲1000 Å thick for both the source positions, and this implies the possibility of the presence of stacking faults. For both the source positions, there is a tendency for the growth‐stacking fault to be present in appreciable concentration (probability β ∠60.0×10−3in the thin range only,<1000 Å with total absence of intrinsic stacking fault (probability α). The dislocation density ρavis found to be ∠1011cm/cm3for both the cases of normal and oblique incidences. The integral breadth studies also yield similar observations on the microstructural parameters. The preferential orientation of these cadmium films is along [00.2], and the effect decreases with increasing thickness for oblique incidence case but increases for normally deposited films. The recovery effect as studied by analysing two films ∠680 and ∠930 Å, deposited normally on substrates preheated to about 383 K, is shown by considerable gains in size and strain parameters with a reduced probability of growth faulting.