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Failure during Windows Server 2008 System State Backup & System Writer Missing

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For some of those new to DPM 2007, you might find yourself in a situation where a Windows Server 2008 (and R2) is failing during backups consistently.  The consistency part is the ironic is that it is always failing and might lead you to review a bit more what is going on.  This problem, as outlined in this post, is often related to missing the Windows Backup feature on Windows Server 2008.

However, there are cases where some servers will fail unless you reset permissions for the System Writer.  This was outlined in this forum post yet no one actually batched this up and shared and since I had quite a few servers that I needed to run this on I batched this up and it corrected the issue.

To correct this problem, simply copy this batch file and execute on your Windows Server 2008 servers in question -

 REM  Set ACLs correct for System Writer
REM  *************************************
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps  /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps  /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps  /grant "BUILTIN\Users:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps  /grant "Administratoren:(RX)"
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\* /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.*  /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.*  /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.*  /grant "BUILTIN\Users:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.*  /grant "Administrators:(RX)"
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames  /grant "Administrators:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "BUILTIN\Users:(RX)"
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames\*.* /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames\*.*  /grant "Administrators:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames\*.* /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames\*.* /grant "BUILTIN\Users:(RX)"

REM  Restart the Cryptographic Services
REM  **********************************
net stop cryptsvc &;& net start cryptsvc

After executing this, you will be set and ready to re-run your job and off you go.  This is the smallest post in history but it solved a big problem of mine on a couple of servers.

-Chris

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Rich- Has this occurred on all of your SP2 servers?  Or just a single protected server?  If you have more information from the event viewer it might be helpful.   Have you reviewed the forum post here http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/thread/bb760434-de80-4cb6-ae9e-bd253e4b037c carefully and attempted to make sure that system writer is in fact existing? If you can provide me some more info I will ping some DPM product group folks and see if they might know what else to look at... Thanks, -Chris P.S. - I can't repro, unfortunately, as I've moved our lab to DPM 2010 beta.  Sorry

  • Anonymous
    January 05, 2010
    Have tried this and the system writer is still missing.   Is there anything else I should be looking at? Running windows 2008 sp2.   All permissions match as described.  Even checked permissions on event 512. Thanks Rich rich@itlcorp.com

  • Anonymous
    April 23, 2010
    "Administratoren" - is that for swedish system? Seems it not for engish system at least :)

  • Anonymous
    July 04, 2014
    Thanks, that solved my problem :)
    Win2008 Sp2

  • Anonymous
    December 22, 2014
    I am unable to set the backup for last three days kindly helpme

  • Anonymous
    November 19, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 15, 2015
    Winadmin has it right. no hotfix there will solve this found yet. system fully up-to-date with MS update and system writer is leaving after reviewing a file in filemaps folder.