Problem

Open file backup fails with error messages similiar to the following:
INFO: Initializing open file backup [C:\] {VSS-XP.dll}
INFO: VSS: ERROR: Error during the last asynchronous operation.
INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Returned HRESULT = 0x80042306
INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Error text: VSS_E_PROVIDER_VETO
Open file backup failed to initialize because the snapshot was vetoed. ...
INFO: 30000: Failed to initialize open file backup: SYSERR: -2147212538 (80042306) [VSS_E_PROVIDER_VETO] [-2147212538 (0x80042306)] {eFolderWWorker:2328}

This error means that the software component providing the actual physical snapshots refused to create a snapshot.

Resolution

Common causes of this error include:

1. You don't have a drive (partition) on your system formatted with NTFS.
2. You don't have a drive (partition) on your system formatted with NTFS that has at least 100MB of free space for every disk drive in your system.
3. There was too much disk activity when the backup started and the windows snapshot provider could not reliably determine a cutoff point for snapshot creation.

You may not have an NTFS formatted drive (partition) on your system if you upgraded to Windows XP from Windows 95/98/Me and chose not to convert from FAT32. To determine whether or not you have an NTFS formatted drive (partition) on your system, do the following:

1. Open My Computer from the Start menu.
2. Right click on each drive (e.g. C: ) and choose Properties.
3. To the right of file system you will see either FAT32 or NTFS.

One NTFS partition is required in order to use open file backup. This is a requirement built in to Windows and not our backup software. If you do not have an NTFS partition you can add one by doing one of the following:

• Adding a new hard disk to your system and formatting it with NTFS
• Converting your FAT32 file system to NTFS (click here for more information)
• Using a 3rd party tool to resize the partitions on your hard disk, making room for a new partition with at least 100MB of space for every partition you have on your system including the new partition (e.g. if you have 4 partitions on your system, you will need to add a new partition with at least 500MB of free space). Note that we cannot provide technical support for this process (contact the technical support department of the tool that you choose)

If you choose not to create an NTFS partition using one of the above methods you will need to close other applications before the backup begins to ensure that all files will be backed up.

If you do have at least one NTFS drive (partition) with plenty of free space please follow the steps below for additional help.

Diagnostics

More information is written to the Windows Application event log. This can be viewed with the Windows Event Viewer application.

Follow these steps to gather more information:

1. Start the Windows Event Viewer (in Administrative Tools; or do: Start. Run. eventvwr. OK)
2. Click the Application log
3. Look for VSS or VOLSNAP error entries.
4. For each entry, double click to view details, copy the information to the clipboard (using the copy button), and paste it into an email to technical support.