Backup Catalogs Are Missing When You Run Multiple Instances of Ntbackup.exe and Start Backups at the Same Time

When you create more than one backup set at a time by running two or more instances of the Windows Backup Utility (Ntbackup.exe) at the same time, and you then start the backup jobs at almost the same time, catalog files that allow the restore of those backup sets may be missing from the Restore tab in NTBackup. Although the backups will complete successfully and without errors, when you try to restore the backups, one or more of the catalogs on the Restore tab in NTBackup is missing. You cannot re-create these missing catalogs while one of the other backups that was created at the same time already exists on the Restore tab. As a result, you cannot restore all backup sets that exist as backup jobs on a volume or tape.

NTBackup creates catalogs for every backup job that is completed. These catalogs are stored as files in the following folder: %SystemRoot%\Documents and Settings\Account\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\catalogs, where Account is the user account that is logged on to Windows while it is performing the backup. These catalogs typically all appear on the Restore tab in NTBackup so that you can select which parts of the backup set you want to restore. When you start two or more backups jobs at roughly the same time, the catalogs that are created for the backups share the same timestamp attribute. The backup set that was cataloged first appears on the Restore tab in NTBackup. Any other backup jobs started at the same time do not appear on the Restore tab, and you cannot add them to the Restore tab by trying to manually create the catalog while the first job to be cataloged already exists there.

To work around this problem, use one the following methods.

Method 1

Log on as a different user who also has the correct permissions to perform the restore, and then create only the catalog for the backup set that you want to restore from. This creates the catalog in that user's profile. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Restore tab, right-click File, and then click Catalog file.
2. Locate the correct media or backup file (.bkf file), and then click OK.

Method 2

Remove all catalogs from the Restore tab in NTBackup. Create only the catalog for the backup set that you want to restore from.

1. On the Restore tab, right-click each catalog that you want to remove, and then click Delete catalog.
2. On the Restore tab, right-click File, and then click Catalog file.
3. Locate the correct media or backup file (.bkf file), and then click OK.
4. If you are performing multiple restores at the same time, repeat this process for each instance of NTBackup that you are restoring backups from.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.