Backup FAILED: An error occurred retrieving the WMI repository..

[Robin_Farrell]

An error occurred retrieving the WMI repository data directory.
The WMI repository could not be backed up.

I have been getting this error for 2 weeks now and every nights backup fails because of it, I have tried the fixes in the knowledge base and have even written a batch file to automatically rebuild the repository on the main server (on which backupexec is installed).

We are using this to back up 7 servers, can someone please tell me if its a different server I should be concentrating on or is it contained to the server backup exec is installed on??

Also can someone please tell me how to get rid of this error as it doesn't seem like veritas' OR microsofts solutions work:/

[Daniel_Cohen]

A SOLUTION!!

I posted recently to say that i was having the problem. I chipped away at mine, and eventually worked it out.

To start with, the specific error i was receiving was:

An error occurred retrieving the WMI Repository data directory.
The WMI Repository could not be backed up.

The event viewer showed a Warning and ID 8, Source: winmgmt. I searched all online resources and found nothing, until I altered my search one day and found the relevant info on www.eventid.net.

The solution for me was to check the permissions to the %systemroot%\system32\wbem\repository directory. Ensure that the relevant admins, and of course the Backup Exec Service Account has permissions to that directory. If you suspect corrupt files, remove everything from that directory (relocate rather than delete), and then Stop/Start the WMI services, and/or reboot the server. The files will be re-created.

The key for me was that i was getting semi-persistent WMI advice in my Event Log, but when i altered permissions this changed. The following evenings backup went without a hitch.

Good luck to you all, i hope this info can assist some of you.

[Pascal_Gervaix]

I excluded the "C:\WINNT\system32\wbem\" directory in Symantec antivirus autoprotect and the problem was solved for me.
My system is Windows 2000 sp4, Symantec antivirus 10 and Backup exec 9.1.

[Al_S]

I have been having the same problem with one of our 2k servers and have been monitoring this thread for any possible ideas or solutions.

Since the problem has been sporadic, I never thought it would be a permissions issue. I would say 2 out of 7 backups would fail with the WMI Repository error. But, for the last week, the backup has been failing daily.
For gigles, I gave the BE Service account full rights to the wbem directory and for the past two night, the backups have completed successfully.

Since it is a sporadic problem, I can't say for sure that the problem has been resolved, but I have my fingers crossed!

Thanks for the suggestion Daniel!

Thought I would note that we have not recieved any ID 8/winmgmt events.

AlMessage was edited by:
Al S

[Don_Mulvihill]

Interesting... you're right that permissions are either on or off, no sporadic, which makes it odd that a permissions change would solve the problem.

[Al_S]

Well, it's been over a week now and each backup on the trouble server has completed successfully.

Hopefully this is a good sign...

I'm curious, has anyone else tried giving the BE service account full right to the WEB or repository directory? And if so, what have you seen since?

[Rob_Desbois]

Since my last post we haven't had any more problems. Our fix was not to modify permissions - I can't see that a permissions issue would cause intermittent faults - but to exclude the WBEM folder from SAV's auto-protect. If anyone is running SAV 10 then do try this step as we (fingers crossed) haven't had any problems since.

--Rob

[Don_Mulvihill]

We recently had this error occur on one of our win2k servers again. Like before, it happened one night and then went away. Perhaps at that precise moment SAV had control of it. In summary, we had two different servers, both win2k, have this problem once with no action required to make it not happen again.

[Ulrich_Klaus]

Same Problem for us: Backup job hangs while trying to save the (local) C:\winnt\system32\webm\regevent.mof. Cancelling of the job is impossible, only a restart of BE services helps. Afterwards, WMI service is no longer responsive. The error occurs irregularly nearly once per week.

Of course, the C drive has remaining free space (700 M).

It's Server 2000 SP4 with all hotfixes, Veritas BENT 9.1 (plus hotfixes) and Symantec AV 10.0 - but 'autoprotect' of SAV is completely disabled for C, so the last proposal would be no option for us. I'll keep on wathing this thread.

[Dimitri_Putilin]

Veritasymantec recently posted a new article in the knowledgebase, ID 276742. The gist of it is that they're still trying to blame the error on some sort of failure in WBEM rather than fix the bug in their software.

The first half of the article (parts 1 and 2) are a rehash of the previous "fix": making sure the wbem service is running and that you can do a backup from the Properties dialog.

Part 3 is outright dangerous: After I moved everything out of the wbem folder as it says, the management service started but showed errors when I went to Properties. The errors went away once I put all the files back.

Part 4 (de-selecting WBEM from your backup) reminds me of the joke about a guy who went to the doctor complaining that his arm hurt when he moved it this way. The doctor said "don't move it that way." But even that "fix" only works if are backing up a Windows 2003 server, which allows you to de-select wbem under Shadow Copy Components. In anything earlier, that is not an option.

[Dimitri_Putilin]

The problem returned again after 15 days of successful backups. It was much worse before; I believe that excluding the wbem folder from SAV 10 auto-protect helped tremendously. However, it seems that it's not a permanent fix.

My Backup Exec service account has full rights to the wbem folder, and I'm always able to back up WBEM from the WBEM Properties page.

[Michael_Smith_5]

Same problem here, very sporadic. I sometimes go 2-3 weeks without seeing this, but it ALWAYS comes back, no matter what I've tried. I have tried all of the solutions in this thread to no avail. In my case, Winmgmt service cannot be stopped or restarted via the Computer Management/Services Applet once this error has occurred.

I have always rebooted the server to unfreeze the Winmgmt service, never tried killing it from the command line, though I tried (unsuccessfully) to restart and stop it from the command line.

We have Win 2000 Server, SAV 10 (Latest version) installed.

Seems there is no help for this issue. Every time it goes 2 weeks or more without reoccurring and I dare to hope that whatever latest solution/suggestion I have applied has fixed it, it fails again.

Sigh.

[Rob_Desbois]

Just to keep everyone updated on our situation - we had this proble, and had to reboot the server in question (WMI had become unresponsive). After the reboot, we added WBEM folder to backup exclusion list (yes, I know this is treating the symptoms not the cause). We have not had any problems since. This was about 6/7 weeks ago.
Very disappointed at the total lack of interest (except where money involved) from Veritas. I have to say that based upon their refusal to solve a problem most likely due to their own software, or even to investigate the problem, I will hesitate before purchasing from them again, and will advise others of the trouble we've had.
Good luck to everyone still having problems.

[Andreas_Scheidl]

Same problem here. BE 9.1 job hangs when backing up a remote servers (W2kSP4) "regevent.mof" until I stop the remote agent.
I saw this 2 weeks ago on two different media servers, this weekend on one.
Question: Does anyone affected have LANDesk installed? Because the only recent change (besides SUS-Updates) on our servers here was the update to LANDesk V8.6.

[Matt_Carter]

I feel a pain every time i check my email and see a new post to this thread.

I have given up hope with Veritas, my only hope is that this small community figures it out. This has to be one of the biggest threads on this site. Surely symantec or veritas will notice this and report this to management *hint hint wink wink* and maybe research the problem and then that might shut us up??

Come on Modertators get your act together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Don_Mulvihill]

Matt, It's funny to see your post because that's exactly how I feel each time I get an email notification. And also, I have the same hope! I've daydreamed about calling their tech support and demanding to speak with their manager, and then that person's manager, and so on and so forth until I get to someone who will actually look into this.

Then I wake up and realize that such a plan won't pan out. The best I can hope for is that they have some system in place where once a support issue reaches 7000 page views (as this is the only one to have done so) that they'll work on it behind the scenes and address it in their next patch/upgd.

In the end it's Veritasymantec who will pay the price by having customers go to their competitors when we, as technicians, can no longer justify (to our customers, supervisors, and end users) using this faulty software.

[Thomas_Cavuoto]

Same exact problem here....

I could say without question that I HATE was Veritas has become. There software (version 8 and earlier) used to be bulletproof. Lately, I have spent the better part of my days trying to "work around" their horrible software.

What other backup solutions are available? That is my next course of action, because this is getting out of hand.

Tommy

[Dimitri_Putilin]

Andreas,

It seems most if not all of the people reporting this problem are using Symantec Antivirus Corporate 10, which, of course, comes bundled with a subset of Intel LANDesk, which it uses for distribution of software, virus updates and so forth.

[Don_Mulvihill]

FWIW, we're using Symantec Antivirus 9.x.

[Tonya_Murray]

Nope, it is not just Symantic AV users. We don't use Smantic AV at all.

[Jonathan_Kaskel]

It may be related to Symantec Corporate Live Update or Server Anti-Virus software; run Live update, see if there is some program change from Symantec.

Try backing up System State without errors.