Backup Exec 2010 Agent install problems on Server 2000

[dhill]

We recently updated Backup Exec SP4 to 2010 R2.  I did a push install of the Agent to all of our servers, and for the most part that went well, except for two of our Server 2000 systems.  After the push install I rebooted the servers, went back to the "Install Agents and Media Servers on Other Servers..." wizard and it stated  "The Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Systems has been detected on the target computer servername.  There are no updates or upgrades required at this time." for both servers. 

After that I thought everything would be fine, but after our first backup, the jobs failed and stated that Backup Exec could not communicate with those two servers.  I went to the servers and noticed that the Backup Exec Remote Agent was not started.  I attempted to open it from the start menu but it came up and said that it couldn't find vxmon.exe. 

I ran the installer for Backup Exec 2010 R2 on the server and told it to install the Remote Agent for Windows.  It came up and said "A previous installation of Symantec Backup Exec version 11.0.7170 has been detected on the local computer.  The Agent will be upgraded to the version 13.0.4164."  Curious, as the server says that it doesn't need to be upgraded.  I ran it anyways and the installer finished and never said it needed a reboot.  Now whenever I try to run vxmon.exe I get a dialog box stating "The application or DLL C:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\RAWS\bestdutl.dll is not a valid Windows image.  Please check this against your installation diskette."  I searched the DVD and couldn't find that .dll file anywhere (it's probably buried in a cab file or something).  If i try to run the installer again it still says it needs to update to 13.0.4164.

So after all this I decided to try and uninstall the currently installed version and install 13.0.4164 from scratch.  When I go to Add/Remove Programs and click Remove, the installer fails almost immediately after I start it.  the installer logs show the following:

---

11-26-2010,10:10:48 : Installing Version 13.0.4164; (Major=13, Minor=0, Build=4164) > Target Version 11.0.7170; (Major=11, Minor=0, Build=7170)
11-26-2010,10:10:48 : RawsDlgSequence::ValidateCmdLine.
11-26-2010,10:10:48 : BEOperations::BE_GetInstalledProdCodeVersion()
11-26-2010,10:10:48 : Found 11.0.7170 RAWS32 Product.
11-26-2010,10:10:48 : Terminal Services enabled.
11-26-2010,10:10:48 : Terminal Services server has been set to Install mode.
11-26-2010,10:10:50 : Launching UI Install
11-26-2010,10:10:50 : Running in Uninstall mode
11-26-2010,10:10:50 : AgentSeqDlgs::AdlgInstallComplete
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : AgentSeqDlgs::AgentInstaller
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Starting Install
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : RAWS MSI Command Line: EXE_ENVOKED=1 ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress REMOVE=ALL REINSTALL="" MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable INSTALLUIMODE=1
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Running Upgrade Mode
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : AgentInstaller::Install_Product_Thread
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : BEOperations::BE_GetInstalledProdCodeVersion()
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Found 11.0.7170 RAWS32 Product.
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : BEOps::BE_PrepareCachedRawsMSIForUpgrade
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : MsiOpenDatabase failed!
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : msiexec /i {3B410500-1802-488E-9EF1-4B11992E0440} REMOVE=VSS /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Launching MSI: C:\WINNT\Installer\{D67DA74E-37D7-4FC2-9147-8CBDDDFCDD40}\media\Symantec Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Systems.msi
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Discovered Total Actions: 0
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : The return code from the MSI is: 2
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : AgentSeqDlgs::PostInstallActions
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Remote Agent upgrade cleanup.
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Upgrade cleanup VSP keys.
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Cleaning up the symc status key
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : The return value for Symantec Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Systems returned error code: 2
11-26-2010,10:10:51 : Clean up Symantec installer keys.
11-26-2010,10:10:54 : AgentSeqDlgs::Misc_BE_CommonOps

---

The line "11-26-2010,10:10:51 : MsiOpenDatabase failed!" is shown in red in the logs.  Is there something I can do to resolve this?  If it makes any difference these two servers are both Virtual Machines created by and running on VMware Server 1.0.6.

[JoaoMatos]

Hi,

I had problems with remote agent and windows 2000.

One was solved changing the default IE email to OUTLOOK, att; not outlook express

What is the state of the remote agent services?

[dhill]

Odd that Outlook Express would cause an issue like that, but I checked anyways.  We don't have Outlook installed so I changed it to Hotmail (is that even still around?), but still get the same error.  Did you have to reinstall the Agent after changing that? 

Forgot to mention the services earlier.  It was set to run as LocalSystem, and Startup Type is Automatic, but has no Status.  When I try to start it I get "Could not start the Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows Systems service on Local Computer.  Error 1053:  The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."  I tried setting Log On As to the domain administrator account (also a local admin on the server) and get the same error.

I also read in another knowledge base article that the DCOM and WMI services should be running. Both of them are running.

[JoaoMatos]

You don't have to have Outlook installed, just change it to Outlook, I am talcking about

the server where remote agent is installed.

Can you uninstall remote agent?

Unistall remote agent

Reboot server

Re-install correct remote agent version.

and test again

[dhill]

The only options available in the Email section when I go to Tools->Internet Options->Programs tab are Outlook Express and Hotmail.

[dhill]

Sorry, completely forgot to respond to the second part of your post.  Whenever I try to uninstall I get the errors shown in the log in my original post.  I may need to reboot the system, but can't at the moment since most of our accounting department is using it and they are incredibly busy right now. 

I'm hoping to resolve this before tonight's backup runs since we haven't had a backup of this server in a couple days.  I'm probably going to have to have them close any documents they are using on those servers and reboot them, but wanted to be sure there wasn't a deeper issue that needed to be addressed before rebooting it.

[JoaoMatos]

I checked SCL...

Is your W2K updated? SP4 with roll up 1?

[dhill]

Just checked our WSUS server, both of them have SP4 with Rollup 1.

I was able to reboot one of the servers while some of the users were out to lunch, and that one shows Backup Exec Remote Agent is installed and it runs, but now when I try to publish the Agent to the server it says "Unable to obtain settings for remote agent publishing from the registry."  Which I translate as "get rid of windows 2000", but oh well.  I'll see what happens when I reboot the other one.

[dhill · Accepted solution]

Both servers are working now.  I had to uninstall, reboot, and re-install the backup exec agent on the one that was giving me registry issues.  The one that wouldn't uninstall, I looked at the uninstall log and noticed that the .msi was supposed to be located in "C:\WINNT\Installer\{D67DA74E-37D7-4FC2-9147-8CBDDDFCDD40}\media\".  It wasn't.  I copied the msi file and all other files from the RAWS32\Media folder on the DVD into that folder, then tried again.  It uninstalled but when I rebooted the server, the installer still said that it needed to update version 11. 

Tired of dealing with it at that point, I renamed the Symantec folders on the server and deleted everything I could find that said "Symantec" in the registry, and rebooted.  Now it installs properly and is communicating with the Backup Exec Server.