Error "0x81000015" Appears When You Back Up Files in Windows 7

SYMPTOM

When performing a backup of the system to an external USB drive, the following error appears in the action center “Windows Backup could not create a zip file. This could be because the drive that Windows is installed on does not have enough space or it could be a temporary error. Make sure you have at least 400 MB of free space and try again". The error code is 0x81000015.In fact there is enough free disk space actually.

CAUSE

There are some conflicts between Windows Backup and third-party software programs that are associated with .zip files.

RESOLUTION

1. If you have Carbonite backup utility installed, disable the utility.

2. If you have IDrive applications installed, disable the applications.

3. If you have StuffIt installed, remove .zip associations from StuffIt.

4. If you are running other third-party software programs that are associated with .zip file, disable the programs.

APPLIES TO

Windows 7 Starter

Windows 7 Home Basic

Windows 7 Home Premium

Windows 7 Professional

Windows 7 Enterprise

Windows 7 Ultimate

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Hi, Thank you for your comments. If the issue persists, please post a thread in Internet Explorer Forums and we will perform further researches: Windows 7 Forums social.technet.microsoft.com/.../w7itpro Thanks again! Hope the issue will be resolved soon!

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2011
  I've started seeing this same problem in the last week. None of the suggested resolutions seem to apply. I don't have Carbonite, IDrive or Stuffit. The file associations doesn't list any 3rd part application associated with .zip files. Zip files show directly in Windowes explorer. Any ideas?

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2012
  for me changing the properties of .ZIP files worked perfectly. I have STUFFIT 2010 and it was controlling .ZIP files.