"The Backup Completed, but Some Files Were Skipped" Message When You Try to Back up the System State Files on a Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller

When you try to back up the System State files on a Windows Server 2003 domain controller, you may experience both of the following symptoms:

• The following information appears in the Backup Progress dialog box:
  The backup completed, but some files were skipped.
  
  To see detailed information, click Report.
  The Status box displays a status of Completed with Skipped Files. When you click Report, the following information is displayed:

  Backup started on 6/20/2003 at 4:50 PM. 
  Warning: Unable to open "c:\windows\SYSVOL\domain\DO_NOT_REMOVE_NtFrs_PreInstall_Directory" - skipped.
  Reason: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
  
  Backup completed on 6/20/2003 at 4:55 PM.

• The following event appears in the application log of Event Viewer:

  Event Type: Error
  Event Source: NTBackup
  Event Category: None
  Event ID: 8001
  Date: date
  Time: time
  User: N/A
  Computer: computername
  Description: End Backup of 'System State' 'Warnings or errors were encountered.'
  Verify: Off
  Mode: Append
  Type: Copy
  Consult the backup report for more details.
  For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://support.microsoft.com.

This problem occurs because the Windows Backup program tries to back up the DO_NOT_REMOVE_NtFrs_PreInstall_Directory folder during the System State backup. The DO_NOT_REMOVE_NtFrs_PreInstall_Directory folder should be skipped by the Windows Backup program. However, there are certain circumstances where Windows Backup tries to back up this folder. This error does not jeopardize the integrity of the backup.

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required to install this hotfix.

Restart Requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix Replacement Information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File Information

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

To work around this problem, ignore this error in the backup report.

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