Can't Back Up System State

Marc · 20-02-2008

On a domain controller running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2, I
cannot back up the System System using Microsoft's Backup Utility. After
enabling Shadow Copies on both the C: and E: hard drives, I tried to back up
the System State and got the following error message:

Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "System State Backup 2-13-08j.bkf created 2/19/2008 at 7:22 PM"
Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.
Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:0x80042301.
Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:80042301
Aborting Backup.
The operation did not successfully complete.

After reading all the similar VSS-related posts in the this newsgroup, I
tried reinstalling SP2 twice and reinstalling the VSS Shadow Copy Update
(KB940349) several times, and then rebooting after each installation, but the
problem has not been solved. If I type VSSAdmin List Writers at a command
prompt, I get the following error message:

U:\>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.
Error: Unexpected failure: Catastrophic failure

If I look in the Application Event Log, I get the following error message
under Source:VSS and Event ID: 12289:

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error NetGroupGetUsers(). hr =
0x80070005.

I also notice that the Volume Shadow Copy service (set to automatic)
sometimes shows up as stopped and I have to start it up again. The Microsoft
Software Shadow Copy Provider service was set to manual after enabling Shadow
Copies, so I changed it to automatic and started it. Likewise, the Com+
System Application service was also showing as manual, so I changed to
automatic and started it. Starting these last two services did not solve or
help the problem.

I would appreciate any advice on how to deal with this issue. Ultimately, I
am trying to use Backup Exec 11d to back up the System State and Shadow Copy
Components on two Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition domain controllers. I get
the following error message on both servers when I tried to select them in a
Backup Exec job: "An error was encountered while attempting to browse the
contents of System State/Shadow Copy Components. A failure occurred
initializing the Volume Snapshot Service."

Thank you in advance for your help with this problem.

MrHusy · 20-02-2008

Hi Marc
Assuming that you have Exchange
*Open Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. Locate the Group
that user is a member of (ie, Administrators)
*Select Exchange Tasks, then select Unhide Membership.
*Run REPADMIN /SYNCALL and REPADMIN /REPLICATE
*Make sure there is enough space in Tape
*Also check the following
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;891957

Regards
--
MrHusy
http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_3788926.html

"Marc" wrote:

> On a domain controller running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2, I
> cannot back up the System System using Microsoft's Backup Utility. After
> enabling Shadow Copies on both the C: and E: hard drives, I tried to back up
> the System State and got the following error message:
>
> Backup Status
> Operation: Backup
> Active backup destination: File
> Media name: "System State Backup 2-13-08j.bkf created 2/19/2008 at 7:22 PM"
> Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.
> Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:0x80042301.
> Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:80042301
> Aborting Backup.
> The operation did not successfully complete.
>
> After reading all the similar VSS-related posts in the this newsgroup, I
> tried reinstalling SP2 twice and reinstalling the VSS Shadow Copy Update
> (KB940349) several times, and then rebooting after each installation, but the
> problem has not been solved. If I type VSSAdmin List Writers at a command
> prompt, I get the following error message:
>
> U:\>vssadmin list writers
> vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
> (C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.
> Error: Unexpected failure: Catastrophic failure
>
> If I look in the Application Event Log, I get the following error message
> under Source:VSS and Event ID: 12289:
>
> Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error NetGroupGetUsers(). hr =
> 0x80070005.
>
> I also notice that the Volume Shadow Copy service (set to automatic)
> sometimes shows up as stopped and I have to start it up again. The Microsoft
> Software Shadow Copy Provider service was set to manual after enabling Shadow
> Copies, so I changed it to automatic and started it. Likewise, the Com+
> System Application service was also showing as manual, so I changed to
> automatic and started it. Starting these last two services did not solve or
> help the problem.
>
> I would appreciate any advice on how to deal with this issue. Ultimately, I
> am trying to use Backup Exec 11d to back up the System State and Shadow Copy
> Components on two Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition domain controllers. I get
> the following error message on both servers when I tried to select them in a
> Backup Exec job: "An error was encountered while attempting to browse the
> contents of System State/Shadow Copy Components. A failure occurred
> initializing the Volume Snapshot Service."
>
> Thank you in advance for your help with this problem.

Marc · 20-02-2008

Thanks for responding, MrHusy. However, we are not running Exchange in this
environment. I also tried installing KB891957, but it is said that it is not
necessary to install this update because we are running SP2 on Windows Server
2003. I also installed KB925066, but that did not solve the problem either.

Any more suggestions?

"MrHusy" wrote:

> Hi Marc
> Assuming that you have Exchange
> *Open Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. Locate the Group
> that user is a member of (ie, Administrators)
> *Select Exchange Tasks, then select Unhide Membership.
> *Run REPADMIN /SYNCALL and REPADMIN /REPLICATE
> *Make sure there is enough space in Tape
> *Also check the following
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;891957
>
> Regards
> --
> MrHusy
> http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_3788926.html
>