Cannot back up system state

Try the work around mentioned in the following TNs...

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH67073

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH138359

Hope this helps...

see if this helps in resolving the issue

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH67305

Try re-creating backup selection and see if that helps . in backup job select the automatically select th snapshot provider

Thanks for assisting - unfortunately, no joy with the suggestions above.

Kiran - the issue appears to be with the DVD drive, and as such there is no "Shadow Copies" tab within the drives properties page.

RahulG - Nothing of note within the temp folder as suggested under that article.

Still none the wiser, but your help is appreciated!

Hi Jonah,

Have you gone into your selection list, and then into text view? This will show you what is backed up. Check and make sure that your X:\ drive is not listed, and if it is, delete it.

This should sort out your backups if this is the issue.

Please post back...

Thanks!

Yep, X: is definitely not listed.

To confirm, I have tried backing up solely the System State of the server, with nothing else selected.

We get the same error almost instantly as the job attempts to run.  I am only assuming here, but it looks like AOFO/VSS is trying to initialise on the X: drive (CD/DVD drive), which it obviously can't and so we are getting the failure.

Somehow I need to remove the dependency on X: from the System State... I think?! As I say in the original post, I haven't had much dealings with BE in depth!

You are right there is the dependency on X and we have to find where the dependecy coming from. Is there any snapshot provider you are using on this server like qlogic or any other because those are also 3rd party snapshot provider which does this.

Is this a VM where your c drive is migrated from other vm or done a p2v or a Physical machine.

Is this drive been migrated in Raid configuration?

Is the drive letter changed ?

Also can you do vssadmin list writer on command prompt to check how many writers it shows for snapshot.

OK Jonah...if it is trying to initialise the AOFO cache on the X:\ drive, you need to try move it to another drive. Read the TN below, and see if it helps you! You would obviously select that server where you are getting your error.

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH32425

Thanks!

Hi sazz,

There are no third party snaphot providers being used - this is a fairly new server and nothing additional has been added regarding snaphot providers.

It's not a VM, but a physical box with a manual 2008 installation.

The X: drive in question is a physical CD/DVD drive so has no special configuration.

Drive letter was set as X: right afgter the 2008 installation - we use X: on all other servers and this is the only one with the reported issue.

Output from vssadmin list writer is:

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {87943b56-4068-427f-91e7-cd1720b3221d}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {31e6a189-c98c-4cbb-89a7-289ee968f874}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {e334e017-c739-44a7-bdd9-2e57acd3e3af}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {18b4fad0-555e-4565-9b6b-ff2fa1ba2a95}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {6033f039-ceaa-47f8-9d18-0cf34eb70a3b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {27e54cf4-466e-466c-9117-77dc47f7c090}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {048803b8-c596-44a8-9183-4dc20cb7f648}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Thanks,

Thanks Craig, but unfortunately that utility seems to be limited to Windows Server 2000 only, whilst we are running Server 2008.

Info from
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH65721&key=15047&actp=LIST

Cheers,

...OK, if you uninstal the RAWS agent, and then reinstall it?