Windows backup ran, and my once-pristine and empty backup drive now has something filling its space, so I assume some files were successfully backed up. Thing is, the Action Center icon has the red x on it and it comes up with one issue: Check, your backup (Important). Clicking this issue produces the following dialog: Windows Backup: Troubleshooting Options Check your backup Windows Backup failed while determining libraries location of one of the users included in the backup. Details: BitLocker Drive Encryption cannot be used because critical BitLocker system files are missing or corrupted. Use Windows Startup Repair to restore these files to your computer. Options: *Try to run backup again *Change backup settings Error code: 0x81000031 Thing is, I'm using home premium. I don't see bitlocker as an option and I'm not terribly enthused about having to repair bitlocker when I can't use it to begin with. (Primarily, because I use Windows 7 Home Premium. Even if I used a version which supported bit locker, I'd never use it to begin with - I lack a TPM chip which means that anybody who has physical access to my machine could compromise my security regardless of bitlocker, it'd just take slightly longer for them if bitlocker were present.) I'm digressing, the point is I don't use bitlocker and I don't know how not having bitlocker prevents Windows 7 from copying files from one drive to another and making a note in a logfile that the files were backed up. I realize I simplify the method of backing files up but it doesn't get much more complex than copying them to a separate location and timestamping them. tl;dr: Windows Backup produced error code 0x81000031 because bitlocker drive encryption cannot be used. I don't want to use bit locker drive encryption I just want to back my files up to an external drive. Suggestions? Preferably ones that don't make me run Windows Startup Repair.

Hi,see microsoft solution here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/975692Regards from www.windowsadmin.info[If this answer helps you to resolve the issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. This will help others to find the answers faster]ManuPhilip

I have followed the steps in the linked article exactly, and still have no success. This accomplished nothing. I do not use bitlocker, it is not now and has never been a part of my windows boot process. Is there some way of telling windows backup to ignore this fact and back up anyway? I don't care about encrypting my hard disks or any of that nonsense, I just want to have my files stored in two places for safety.

Hi,I can't see any other solution.As stated in the kb: Error code: 0x81000031 is due toBitLocker Drive Encryption cannot be used because critical BitLocker system files are missing or corrupted.This problem occurs because the BitLocker Wizard moves Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) from the system drive to the external hard disk drive. Therefore, this prevents a backup on the external hard disk. Regards from www.windowsadmin.info [If this answer helps you to resolve the issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. This will help others to find the answers faster]ManuPhilip

I suspect that there is any VSS writer that was looking for the BitLocker Drive Encryption. All the writers are stored in the folder C:\Windows\Vss\Writers\. You can open Event Viewer, and open the following logs. Applications and Services logs\Microsoft\Windows\Backup\OperationalApplications and Services logs\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsBackup\ActionCenter You may check related logs to try to find which writer encounter the issue. Also you can run the following command in command prompt window. vss admin list writers If you find which writer reports errors, please rename the writer from the source folder.Arthur Xie - MSFT

C:\Windows\Vss\Writers contains only the following two folders: Application System The application folder is empty. The System folder has three cryptically named XML files, 0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2 75DFB225-E2E4-4d39-9AC9-FFAFF65DDF06 D61D61C8-D73A-4EEE-8CDD-F6F9786B7124 The first one appears to be the writer for "Performance counters" and refers to .dat files somewhere in %systemroot%\system32 The second one appears to be the writer for "WriterMetadataStore" and refers back to %systemroot%\Vss\writers The third one appears to be the writer for the Task Scheduler. Neither of the logs you suggested (Backup\Operational and WindowsBackup\Action Center) indicated any errors. Backup\Operational was completely blank and WindowsBackup\Action Center consisted only of information events. Finally, attempting to run the command vss admin list writers produces the output: 'vss' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Do I have to be in a specific location to run the command?

Not yours in particular, but why all these complaints about backup/restore? I do only image backups to external for restore if needed with W. 7 Ultimate. I see no point in sync type of backup to external or anywhere. In backup menu Ultimate, the selection for Image backup is in upper left. Backup of Vista U.32, W. 7 U32 & W. 7U.64 on Disk 2 in this Mac Pro takes little time. Restoration if anything takes less time, if ever it is necessary. To my thinking, this is one of the best features of W.7.

Perhaps. Image backups are indeed useful if I need to restore an entire disk to its previous state. The thing is, in many cases it is overkill. Yes, it gets the job done, but it does so in a round-about method. Sync-type backups are useful because: I'm not making more than one image backup, conserving space I'm only backing-up up the files which changed. It is easier to have multiple versions of a file backed up. At any rate, I can not make ANY sort of backup using the built-in Windows Backup tool - image or otherwise. Presumably it succeeded in making an image backup at some point in time because one is there, but all later attempts at making any sort of backup fail with the given message.

Reply to both bump the topic and mark an answer. As it turns out, the error occurred whenever I tried to back up any of my Libraries. By selecting "Let me choose", unselecting all the pre-selected libraries, and finally manually telling Windows Backup to back up my profile folder (C:/Users/Philbert), Windows Backup was able to successfully locate all my personal files for backup and then back them up. JUST TO CLARIFY FOR ANYBODY ELSE HAVING THIS ISSUE, IT WAS SOLVED IN THIS MANNER: First, start windows backup. This is accomplished by clicking start and then typing Backup and Restore into the start menu search box, then clicking the icon for windows backup. Second, make sure to select change settings in the backup and restore window. Third, the set up backup dialog box will open. Select the drive you wish to use for backups. Fourth, the what do you want to back up? dialog box will open. Make sure to select let me choose before clicking next. Fifth. Un-select any and all libraries which may start off selected. Additonally, unselect include system image. I'll just have to live with doing that manually from time to time. Sixth, pick-and-choose which files you wish to back up. Odds are you'll want to back up your profile folder (usually C:/Users/yourname), then click next. That's it! Everything else should work as expected. Big thanks goes out to Microsoft Customer Support, specifically Srinivas and Pradeep, the email support technicians who got me to this solution. Thanks guys!

Hi Guys, I'm encountering the same error as PhilbertHFZ with Error Code: 0x81000031. I'm running Windows 7 Professional and trying to back up to a Seagate 1tb Expansion drive (usb). I tried the all of the fixes in this thread but still no luck. Although, I was able to successfully create a backup Image file. It's just the backing up of the documents/libraries that the error persists. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hi,We have seen this error occur when locations on a CD/DVD drive on your machine have got included in one of your user libraries. This is not possible directly but there is a chance that you added locations from an internal/external drive to your library and the drive later got deleted/renamed and the driveletter now represents a CD/DVD drive. Please remove such locations from your library and re-run backup. For example, suppose F:\ is a CD/DVD drive on your machine. And, User John's Music library has some location under F:\ included in it. (Note: Launching the library and clicking on 'Locations' will give you the list of locations including in the library.) Remove F:\ locations from the Music library.This should fix your backup error. Please let us know if this helps.Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

This fixed my issue. I had the exact same issue with the "missing" bitlocker files. Used Sneha's suggested answer. Found that one of my DVD drives had been included in a library folder that I had created to my backup location. Removed the DVD drive from the library, and now the backup works great!Thanks Sneha!!Here's what I did:Clicked "Start", then "Computer".Right clicked on the "Library" I wanted to modify, and selected "properties".Immediately saw that my DVD drive was an included folder in the library.Clicked on the drive in the list, and the Remove Button became active.Clicked on "Remove" and it removed the drive from the list.Clicked on "Incude Folder" and added in my real backup folder location (not required, I just want a libray connection to it).Clicked on "Ok".Tried my backup and everything works fine now.

We have seen this error occur when locations on a CD/DVD drive on your machine have got included in one of your user libraries. This is not possible directly but there is a chance that you added locations from an internal/external drive to your library and the drive later got deleted/renamed and the driveletter now represents a CD/DVD drive. Please remove such locations from your library and re-run backup. For example, suppose F:\ is a CD/DVD drive on your machine. And, User John's Music library has some location under F:\ included in it. (Note: Launching the library and clicking on 'Locations' will give you the list of locations including in the library.) Remove F:\ locations from the Music library. Hi, that answer also helped me come up with a solution: I had the same issue with the root level of a (mounted!) TrueCrypt volume included in my libraries. Only after removing this I could start the backup. Thanks, Dennis

I think I'm having the same problem as Dennis. I don't have BitLocker, but my Libraries are on a TrueCrypt volume Mounted at F:\. If I include the Libraries, I get the 0x81000031 error, but if I remove the Libraries from the backup set, it runs fine. However, most of the stuff I WANT to backup is on that volume, so removing that volume from the backup set is not a solution. Greg

I'm also having trouble backing up to a Seagate hard drive. I've tried all the proposed fixes in this thread without any luck.My error message simply refers to the 0X18000031. It says nothing about Bitlocker. I've checked my libraries and they are not associated with the DVD drive. I do, however, notice that in each library there are two folders: My Music (C:\Users\omx) AND Public Music (C:\Users\Public). Could this be the problem?Why is such a vital procedure such a stumbling block?

Hi TrickPony,If you are sure that none of your users have a library that is pointing to a drive that was once a DVD drive, the other thing that you could check for is whether you have any libraries on a TrueCrypt volume.Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Hi guys, Would you be so kind to detailed the steps how you managed to get around this case? I don't understand much about TrueCrypt and those John's suggestion to check the music library to find out if there is an item may be that points to a CD/DVD drive....

Backing up from or to, Windows Backup just does not recognize TrueCrypt volumes. The way I got around it was to stop using Windows Backup and switched to Carbonite Backup instead. Greg

A couple of my Libraries included Invalid drive letter because I migrated the user with Windows Easy Transfer and on the machine I migrated from the drive letters were different than my current machine. I removed these invalid drive from the libraries and my backup was sucessful. Thanks Sneha! (I migrated multiple users, so had to clean up multiple libraries of all accounts)

I had the same problem, uninstalling MagicDisc solved the problem for me.

switch off UAC and try backup from administrator account Method 1: Disable and Turnoff UAC in Windows 7 from Control Panel 1. Access User Control Panel from Start Menu -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Account 2. Click on User Account Control settings link. 3. Move the Slider to Never Notify 4. Click OK to make the change effective 5. Reboot. For More Information and know how to resolve windows 7 backup error

The connection between Backup and Bitlocker is the hidden partition - both use it. Are you able to hibernate with no problem? What happens when you run "bcdedit" in a command window - does it find the bcd store? There seem to be a number of problems with Backup and Hibernate that originate from issues with the hidden partition of Windows 7. In your case, the problem might be solved by using a partition manager to increase the size of your hidden partition (carefully! there are threads on how to do this. backup an image of your system first, if possible). You can check this by seeing how full your hidden partition is - are there more than 60 GB or so free? If not, then that's probably your issue. If bcdedit cannot find your bcdstore, and if you have problems with hibernation, then your problem is probably different. That would be bad news for you, as I've been searching and posting from one end of the internet to the other, with no resolution. You can see some of those threads here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/d42f4d93-3bd3-4c89-aa86-d44719f266a6 http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/w7itprogeneral/thread/dbdf81da-8456-4f55-be38-bf4c9f00d0bc http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/aa5a9a17-7fb1-4ff3-9a9e-0b90f9880ee0

Hi, We have seen this error occur when locations on a CD/DVD drive on your machine have got included in one of your user libraries. This is not possible directly but there is a chance that you added locations from an internal/external drive to your library and the drive later got deleted/renamed and the driveletter now represents a CD/DVD drive. Please remove such locations from your library and re-run backup. For example, suppose F:\ is a CD/DVD drive on your machine. And, User John's Music library has some location under F:\ included in it. (Note: Launching the library and clicking on 'Locations' will give you the list of locations including in the library.) Remove F:\ locations from the Music library. This should fix your backup error. Please let us know if this helps. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] this worked for me. i had 'music' has an external then i took the drive away to another pc. apparently the backup couldn't find the path and mistook the music in my (C) instead. it took many, many hours of searching around to find the answer but it is doing a backup now. cheers.....

Reply to both bump the topic and mark an answer. As it turns out, the error occurred whenever I tried to back up any of my Libraries. By selecting "Let me choose", unselecting all the pre-selected libraries, and finally manually telling Windows Backup to back up my profile folder (C:/Users/Philbert), Windows Backup was able to successfully locate all my personal files for backup and then back them up. JUST TO CLARIFY FOR ANYBODY ELSE HAVING THIS ISSUE, IT WAS SOLVED IN THIS MANNER: First, start windows backup. This is accomplished by clicking start and then typing Backup and Restore into the start menu search box, then clicking the icon for windows backup. Second, make sure to select change settings in the backup and restore window. Third, the set up backup dialog box will open. Select the drive you wish to use for backups. Fourth, the what do you want to back up? dialog box will open. Make sure to select let me choose before clicking next. Fifth. Un-select any and all libraries which may start off selected. Additonally, unselect include system image. I'll just have to live with doing that manually from time to time. Sixth, pick-and-choose which files you wish to back up. Odds are you'll want to back up your profile folder (usually C:/Users/yourname), then click next. That's it! Everything else should work as expected. Big thanks goes out to Microsoft Customer Support, specifically Srinivas and Pradeep, the email support technicians who got me to this solution. Thanks guys! this helped also, going into the files and unmarking programs that are no longer on the (C: ) unmarking 'music' worked for me. i was so relieved when i saw that you had exactly the same trouble as i had.

Concur. This solution worked perfectly Paul

Worked like a charm! I just want to thank you for the clear and concise direction! I'm backing up as we Tweet! Peace

Hi, I had exactly the same problem. Followed all the various other suggestions but no luck. When I checked the "Pictures" folder under libraries (right click then choose properties) a library location had been specified for my E: drive which is my DVD drive. Removing it sorted the problem. Many Thanks Dave

Sneha You are fantastic! Of all the suggestions, you are not only correct in your diagnosis but have explained the process in an easy to understand and complete manner. Many thanks Steve

thank you thank you thank you for posting your fix. I have been putting off this issue for 6+ months now..and I really didnt even know what bitlocker was till i read your first post, and since I don't allow incoming connections or file share or really anything except personal logs and storage and of course facebook...why would i give a bleeep about bitlocker either? thanks for the fix...i needed it.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!! I went 8 months without a backup. I followed the advice step by step and it worked! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!