I'm running Windows 7 x64 RC, and my backups have started failing with error code 0x8100019. I have a nightly scheduled backup, and the last successful backup was on 7/1. My updates are current; the only updates installed since the last good backup were language packs and windows defender updates. The troubleshooting message is, "A shadow copy could not be created. Please check the 'VSS' and 'SPP' application event logs for more information. Details: Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. " I'm backing up a 60G volume (40G used), and there was 120+G space free on the destination volume, but I tried reconfiguring the backup to use a different volume with 500G free anyway. It still failed with the same error. VSS is logging errors like, " Express Writer error: failed while adding express writers from directory System. Operation: Initializing Writer Gathering Writer Data Executing Asynchronous Operation Context: File Path: C:\Windows\Vss\Writers\System\ Execution Context: Requestor Current State: GatherWriterMetadata Error-specific details: Error: CreateFile("75DFB225-E2E4-4d39-9AC9-FFAFF65DDF06.xml"), 0x80070002, The system cannot find the file specified. On 7/2 I installed AMD Overdrive 3.0.2.0289, Nero 8 Essentials 8.3.416 and ATI Catalyst Install Manager 3.0.728.0. I'm going to uninstall Nero and see what happens... Any other suggestions? Thanks

I uninstalled Overdrive and Nero; no joy. I enabled System Restore on the source and destination volumes; no joy. I'm out of ideas - anything else to try? Thanks

Make sure the Volume Shadow Copy service is set to "automatic" and that it will start successfully (right click on "volume shadow copy" in the list of services and click on "start." start > All programs > Administrative Tools > services

Same issue here (on 32bit version of RC)that started happening this weekend (yesterday). Your suggestion on VSS is already covered with no success.David - you probably want to try creating a restore point. I suspect that will fail as well with a similar message (object not found) as it is with me and started failing at the same time:"The restore point could not be created for the following reason: The specified object was not found. (0x80042308). Please try again."I have tried many different things to eliminate (same as you plus many other settings) with no success. HOWEVER, I notice that you installed something I installed as well before noticing the stop: ATI Catalyst. As much of a pain that was (BIOS+a couple other issues), I'll try removing to see what the affect is.I can firmly say that it did start this weekend as I'm in setup mode for the particular computer and frequently backup and take restore points when doing this.

No success on ATI. Be nice if msft chimed in one of the MANY forums listing this issue with either "we have it, working on it" or "here's you problem and how to fix".

The Volume Shadow Copy service was set to manual and not running. I set it automatic and successfully started it. I then rebooted and verified that it auto starts. Backup still fails with the same error. I found a Storage Team (File Cabinet) blog referencing the VSS error 0x80070002, but all four profileimagepath (and ntuser.dat) look fine. I do see that one of them, C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\ntuser.dat for S-1-5-18, hasn't been modified or accessed since 6/24. That doesn't seem significant to me, but I thought that I'd mention it. I do notice that the file that VSS complains about, C:\Windows\Vss\Writers\System\75DFB225-E2E4-4d39-9AC9-FFAFF65DDF06.xml, is locked for editing. I did a process search using sysinternals' process explorer, but nothing turned up. So I don't know what's up with that! ieric - I can make a restore point. Any other leads? Thanks

Well, I punted. I did an update/re-install of Win7, and backups run fine now. Curiously, I am still getting the same VSS errors (tagged as warning level, but stating error in the text). But backup and restore are working anyway. I guess they were red herrings.... BTW RB - after the re-install, the Volume Shadow Copy service is back to manual, and it is not currently running. I checked the event log, and it starts on demand when the backup runs, then shuts down after an idle timeout.

I've searched for the solution to this issue and am unable to find any definitive answers. I'm seeing this error every time I attempt to do a Backup:This is Windows 7 Ultimate"[Window Title]Windows Backup: Troubleshooting Options [Main Instruction]Check your backup [Content]A shadow copy could not be created. Please check "VSS" and "SPP" application event logs for more information.Details: Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. [^] Hide Details [Try to run backup again] [Change backup settings] [Cancel] [Expanded Information]Backup time: 10/25/2009 3:23 PMBackup location: Terra-Stor (M:)Error code: 0x81000019"Is there any possibility of getting to the bottom of this w/o completely flattening and reinstalling my system?

I am having the exact same problem and tried all of the suggestions above and none have worked for me either. I am running the RTM 32bit version of Win 7. Anyone got any ideas short of a re-install?

Hi ChuckSh,Most probably, your system reservedparition is running out of space. Can you check the freespace on the volume? Please do the following steps:1. Start -> Computer -> Right click -> Manage2. Select Storage -> Disk management.3. Verify that you have a System Reserved partition of 100 MB size.4. If yes, right click on this volume and select Properties.5. View used and free space.Please report the results to me. This volume requires around 40 MB free space for backup to complete successfully. Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Hello Sneha (see my post just above ChuckSh's) - My 100MB reserved partition exists and is showing Free Space = 34.3MB (34% Free).I also noticed last night that if i de-selected the "Include a system image..." checkbox that I CAN backup files & folders.

Hi,Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically)to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, werecommend that you have asystem image handybecause itcan beused to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash.If theSystem reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Managementbecause of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround.Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind:a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk.b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:)on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume FDISKPART> active Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration.This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works.Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Thanks a lot, Sneha. I'll give that a try. A couple of questions. 1. I note that my current system reserved partition does not have a drive letter. After I create a new 490MB system partition and name it 'F:' as you suggest, will I need to somehow remove that drive letter assignment after it becomes the system reserved part.? 2. Can I flatten and/or reclaim the original 100MB system partition after creating the new one? -TopMJW

Hi TopMJW,1. It is recommended that you do not use the System Reserved partition for anything else. Hence, remove the drive letter (Disk Management -> Right click on volume -> Change Drive letter and paths -> Select driveletter -> Click Remove) so that Explorer will not see it. 2. Do not flatten the 100 MB partition in case you need to reverse this operation. Hope this clarifies.Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Something evidently causes the System Reserved partition to mis-report its consumption. In my case, it may have been the image restoration I performed from a prior image. Not sure. I don't have time now to attempt to track it down.Regardless, when I followed Sneha's procedure to move the boot files, I saw that the resulting new files were only about ~30MB, which would again leave enough room on the original 100MB partition for the system image procedure. I just took it a few steps farther by rebooting, formatting the original System Reserved partition, moving the boot files back to it andmarking it active again, rebooting, and removing thealternate system partition.I hope someone if figuring out what causes the original partition to mis-report. I can only imagine the untold aggravation it's causing the poor souls who don't find this thread.

A SHADOW COPY COULD NOT BE CREATED - PLEASE CHECK VSS & SPP APPLICATION EVENT LOGS FOR MORE INFORMATION. DETAILS: INSUFFICIENT STORAGE AVAILABLE TO CREATE EITHER THE SHADOW COPY STORAGE FILE OR OTHER SHADOW COPY DATA". error code 0x81000019Hi everyone,I just spent 6 or more hours on the phone with MS level 1 and then level 2 software engineers. They accessed my pc remotely and together, we came up with a solution to this problem. This is a temporary solution until MS solves it permanently in an update. It's a very simple solution butIcaution you that you must follow the instructions exactly otherwise you will not be able to boot up to windows after a restart so here is Sangeeta Mohanty's email with the solution...Tried to make C:\Drive as active in Disk management, it will make the boot partition (100MB ) inactive automatically, once you restart will get error boot manager is missing. We have a temporary solution.Please go to diskmgmt.msc (OR DISK MANAGEMENT IN CONTROL PANEL)and make the C:\ partition as activate and try backing up using system image, it should work. Never restart the computer after that. Once the backup is done, please go to diskmgmt.msc make the boot partition (100MB ) as active partition. Then restart. It should work. (IT DOES WORK - I'VE TRIED!)** IMPORTANT** Please remember never make C:\ partition active and re boot you won't be able to boot. The reason is boot partition (100MB ) contains you boot files.Result: was able to resolve the issue.Hope this helps - I know it was very frustrating and I was determined to get a resolution.Mike

I've been having this problem every time I try to back up a system image right after restoring from an image. After it restores, a shadowed image is being accumulated inside the System Volume information folder on your System Reserved partition. Windows is set to automatically delete the shadowed image after around 30-40 minutes (I don't know the exact time it refreshes). You can keep track of it by going to Disk Management. The moment it reports that it already has 70mb of free space, you can safely do an image back up. I hope Windows will come up with an update that after the restore it should auto-delete that shadowed copy.. Lemme know if it really works just like this for you. It mysteriously puts the free space back on the System Reserved Partition after some time Managed to clock it. It took around 20 minutes to free up the System Reserved Disk -Albee Dela Cruz Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit ------------------------------ Intel i5 750 Asrock P55M Pro 4x2GB G.Skill Ripjaws Inno3D GeForce GTX275 OC 1792mb 2X500GB Seagate 7200.12 in Raid 0 LiteOn 22x Multi-DVD LightScribe CoolerMaster HAF 922

Hi,Can someone who is facing this issue report the following:1. What is the used space on the volume? 2. Assign a drive letter (say F:)to the System reserved partition. Launch an admin command prompt. dir /s F: >dir.txtdir /s /AH > hidden.txt. Send across dir.txt and hidden.txt3. Contents of <SystemDrive>\Windows\Logs\WindowsBackupPleasesend the above to sneham_at_microsoft_dot_com (Remove underscores and replace words with characters).We have seen a large number of hits on this issue. We want to investigate on what is causing insufficient space on the System reserved patition. Your inputs are appreciated.@ Albee: You are right in observing that it takes a few minutes after a recovery for the space on system reserved partition to be reclaimed. This problem will be solved in about 30 minutes and should not be ongoing. Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

I also experience the problem. I sent the details. From what I see, there are many localized boot files on that volume. I'm not 100%sure, but I think the problem may have started after I downloaded ALL the language packs (I hate when Windows Update tells me I have optional updates to install).

I'm having the same problem. My System Reserved Volume had 69.3 MB. I also downloaded ALL the language packs. I will submit my details to Sneha too.Trying to create a new system volume with the workaround posted. Results to come later today.

I still received the same error after creating a new system reserved volume and making it active:<<Event Viewer:General Tab>>Backup did not complete successfully because a shadow copy could not be created. Free up disk space on the drive that you are backing up by deleting unnecessary files and then try again.<<Event Viewer:Details Tab>> A shadow copy could not be created. Please check "VSS" and "SPP" application event logs for more information. (0x81000019)

Hello Sneha (see my post just above ChuckSh's) - My 100MB reserved partition exists and is showing Free Space = 34.3MB (34% Free).I also noticed last night that if i de-selected the "Include a system image..." checkbox that I CAN backup files & folders. I tried de-selecting the "Include a system image" in the backup settings too, but that did not work for me.

I also checked the Volume Shadow Copy services. I set it to Automatic and restarted, but the service is not started. I checked the event logs and VSS service is shutting down due to idel timeout.There is also a log for Security-SPP "The Software Protectionservice has stopped."I don't know if those services start and stop when needed or if they should be running all the time.I'm guessing those logs might have something to do with the Backup Error message "Please check "VSS" and "SPP" application event logs for more information.

This isn't an option for me at this point due to the fact that I already have 4 partitions. Can I perform the bcdboot.exe /s command to an existing partition that I'm already as a data partition? If so, would I then be able to format the 100 MB one again, and perform this back to it?Thanks...

This isn't an option for me at this point due to the fact that I already have 4 partitions. Can I perform the bcdboot.exe /s command to an existing partition that I'm already as a data partition? If so, would I then be able to format the 100 MB one again, and perform this back to it? Thanks... Just thought I'd post my results of trying this. Worked out perfectly. I used bcdboot c:\windows /s M: (M was a pre-existing partition I use for data). It copied the boot files. I then set it active and reboot. After reboot, I was able to format my 100MB system reserved partition, assign a letter and rerun the bcdboot command again to copy bootfiles to it. I set it active again, and reboot. Voila. I now have System Reserved with over 70% free, and I can now perform the System Image in the backup program.

I tried reformatting my old 100MB partition, copying the system files,and setting that volume active. Rebooted and 70% free of the 100MB. Backup still failed. I also tried changing my settings to only backup a single folder with one 10 MB file and it still failed with the same error.

Dang, it worked for ONE backup. The next day I was back to 30 percent free again. I don't wanna have to go through this blasted procedure every time I want to back up. ARGHH!

Hi everyone,I have receieved from some of you guys some leadsto the root cause of the space usage on the 100 MB parition. We are investigating on the issue. Will post back on the thread any updates that I have. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Hi, That was longjourney, I would like to know is it possible to adjust the size of System Reserved drive during the Window 7 Installation from 100MB to 500 MB it would be easier than just customize when everything is completed. Heng.

I think that would work fine.I read that the small partition is only required for BitLocker, so I did an install of 7 Pro with no small partition, and it works fine so far. If you let the 7 install create the partitions,let it do just the partition creation, then go back, delete thesecond partition it was going to install on, extend the first small partition to the size you wanted originally, and theninstall on that partition. Viola, no small partition to trip you up.

Hi.May I please join this discussion as I've been attempting to resolve the same, or very similar, backup problems without success?http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/b2096cb4-f3b4-4b26-904b-3f1d6920206a/#1fb22388-f322-48ad-91fa-3b388a1df4b5It appears that my problem may be because I don't have a system reserved partition? My Disk 0 is divided into C: and D: the latter is a recovery partition of 5.25 Gb. Incidentally, I noticed this is formatted as FAT32; does this matter?The C: partition of 181.05 GB (NTFS) status is reported as Healthy (System, Boot, Page, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition).Only 9 MB is unallocated.Presumably, this is what Windows created. I did a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium and transferred files and settings from Vista Ultimate.So do I need to shrink one of these two partitions to create at least 100 Mb of unallocated space, and create a system reserved partition there in order to get backup to work?Best regards,Richard

From my experience, no, you do not need the 100 MB partition to perform backups. It hasbeen the opposite for me as it has caused problems due to it being too full for a period of time after a restore from a backup, so I just eliminated itduring my last build.Reading your other thread, I'm guessing you have other problems related to the drive. If you happen to have a new drive to install upon, I would do that and see if the problems disappear.When you say 9 MB is unallocated, I hope you mean unpartitioned space on the drive, not free space within a partition. Unpartitioned space should be of no consequence, but only 9 MB free of a 181 GB system partition would be a definite problem if not an amazing feat.

Yes - 9 Mb not partitioned. (There's 84 Gb. free space.)I've run Check Disk on all volumes and SFC \scannow (several times) and no errors are found. The hard disc on my PC is relatively new, but I don't have another free drive. What's making resolution more difficult is the fact that there are clearly differences in the operating systems in what DLLs etc are required, although most advice is generic, andsuch problems have clearly continued through XP, Vista and 7 -so, when errors are reported, Idon't know whether they are actually relevent to Windows 7. From the number of threads on this subject, and the number that are unresolved, it appears there is a fundamental problem in Windows. Many people give-up and use third-party backups, as I did in Vista (Carbonite) and am continuing to use. Now I have more time available, however,I would like finally to resolve this fault!

Hi everyone,Sorry for the delay. From the information sent by some customers my email, we see that USN journal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USN_Journal ) on the System Reserved partition is getting turned on by some application (most probably third party). This eats up space on the volume and hence causes backup to fail. Please follow the following steps to determine the size of the USN journal on the System Reserved partition. Assume that your System Reserved partition is F: 1. Lauch cmd -> Run as Administrator 2. Fsutil usn queryjournal F: This will output the settings of the USN journal. 3. Check the Maximum size field. This gives you the space used (in bytes in hex) by the USN journal on the volume. 4. Open calc and set in hex mode and paste the value. 5. Change mode to decimal and divide by 1048576 (ie. 1024 * 1024) to get the number of MB. 6. If you see this to be anything of the order of 30 MB, backup will fail owing to lack of space. Can you let me know if this is the case? Also, the typical type of applications that use USN journal are apps that crawl the file system to track changes. Ex: Backup, indexers etc. If you know of any suspicious application, do let us know. Meanwhile, in order for your backups to work, please exclude system image from your backup and run your backups. Please note that this will back up only your user files. Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]@RichardSteel,Your issue seems to be a different one. Will follow up with you on the thread that you have pointed to above.Thanks,Sneha[MSFT]

Dear Sneha: Any updates on a solution for creating system images with Win7 Backup? The error I get from Backup is 0x81000033. Like the folks above, I can backup user files, but it always faults when trying to make a system image. I can confirm that the max journal size on my System Reserved drive is 49MB (following your instructions above). If the journal size is the issue, is there a safe way to reduce it to get backup functionality back, for example using "fsutil usn createjournal m=??? x:" ??? I don't dare to try this, of course, because the reason I'm here asking this question is because I'm trying to make a good backup! Backing up only user files unfortunately is not good enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you know of any suspicious application, do let us know. Not sure if it could be related to the USN journal issue, but I found that Amazon Unbox had created a directory on the reserved partition and stored some video thumbnails on it, despite the fact that the partition was not assigned a letter. I erased the directory and the files did not return.

I have exactly the same error as people mentioned above. Win7 just suddenly stopped backuping my system. It worked fine for 3 months. Win7 backs the data up to a different partition on a different drive (120GB). I would like to try your suggestion, but I havent got any System Reserved Partition. Win7 simply never created one. I could set one up myself now. but how would I tell Win7 about it. Plus: It didnt seem to need the System Reserved Partition for the last 3 months. This is a very annoying Bug. To Admins: Please fix this, otherwise I have to believe Win7 still is in beta status.

One safe workaround would be to increase the system reserved partition size to 500 MB. Thanks,S.Soudamini.This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

Hi,Can you please be more elaborate about your system configuration. viz., no of volumes, disk config and the initial backup target for which it has succeeded and current backup configuration. Can you please send me a mail to Soudamini[dot]Sreepada[at]microsoft[dot]com, I would be able to take your case offline.Thanks,S.Soudamini.This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

I made a new system reserve with Partition Manager and copied the old system reserve. Made the new system reserve as active and is still getting the same error message. Restarted the computer and tried everything again, still no luck. Got a new system reserve with over 400mb of free space and is the acive system reserve. Nothing seems to work for me. Any new ideas? I'm trying to create a new system image.

This does not work. I created a new system reserve using partition manager and copied the old system reserve over to the new 495mb system reserve and made that one active. Restarted the computer and tried to make system image, got the error message again. Any other ideas?

Ok so all the files on the system reserved partition come out to be 14.2MB it claims i have used 62.1MB is the other 47.9MB important files or are they junk (see these files though windows considering booting into linux cd to see them) e.g can i just copy al the files to anther drive. format the drive repaste them?

By increasing the system reserved partition size, I meant extend the system reserved partition (disk mgmt -> select the volume and extend the volume). madcow209,In your case, when you open the backup configuration UI, which partitions are shown in the system image backup selection?Thanks,S.Soudamini.This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

Hello Mr. Soudamini,I installed WIndows 7 on a Sony Vaio notebook and afterwads made the first system backup.Now, after installing user-software I tried it again and got the mentioned mistake 0x80780119I have now calculated the size of the USN Journal - its about 32 MB!Is it possible that Bitdefender Antivirus 2010 is making the problem - all other applications are "normal" like MS Office, Adobe CS, Corel Draw,...

Some Additions to my last comment - in betwenn I reinstalled two different Laptops, obe with Ultimate,the other one with ProfessionalLaptop (1) Sony:After making another partition active and copying the bootloader I tried to format the "System recovery Partition" - after formatting 48MB of 100MB where still in use!So I deleted the Volume and recreated it - 100MB where free. After copying the bootloader and reactivating the original "System recovery Partition" the same Problem, only 38 MB where free and so SystemImage Backup didn't work.So I reduced my data-partition by 270MB, deleted the original "System recovery Partition" and created a new SysRec-Partition with this 270MB. Copy Bootloader and activating reduced the free MB to 199MB once again, 71MB are in use. However now I can make my system backup.Laptop (2) Toshiba:Installing Win 7 Ultimate, installing several applications (Office, Firefox, Adobe, Corel, Tools,...) and 70MB from 100MB where free on SysRecPart.But: After installing my last application BitDefender 2010 AV the problem started again - 38MB where free. Looking at the USN journal size using " Fsutil usn queryjournal F:"USN-Journalkennung : 0x01ca88ce01fd629cErste USN : 0x0000000000000000Nächste USN : 0x0000000000000800Niedrigste gültige USN : 0x0000000000000000Maximale USN : 0x7fffffffffff0000Maximale Größe : 0x0000000002000000Reservierungsdelta : 0x0000000000100000So max. size is again about 32MBAs a result of the installation on both laptops I think, my AV program is guilty to increase the size of my usn journal and reducing the size of free MB on SysRecPart

Hi,Thanks for the input.Yes, the software Bitdefender Antivirus 2010 turns on the USN journal on system reserved partition after installation - which is in turn increasing the size of the reserved partition. If you turn off the USN journal, the software automatically turns it again the next time it scans. Can you please un-install the software and try the backup again? You also need to turn off USN journal after un-installing the anti-virus. (I have found that its not re-setting the USN journal.) You can do the same by running fsutil usn deletejournal /D <Volume Guid Name for Reserved partition>Thanks,S.Soudamini. This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

Sorry, but since I have created a 270MB SysRec-Partition on both laptops I am not able to test the functionality of system backup with the 100MB partition. And backup with the 270MB partition is possible. I hav testest it successfully on both laptops at first to my NAS, and afterwards to the second Data-partition.

Dear Mr. Soudamini, any suggestion what I can in the following situation: I Have two partitions on my hard disk: the system reserved partition with 100 MB, and the partition with Windows 7 (Professional) with 465 GB next to it If I shrink the windows partition, I get free space at the end of the disk which I cannot use for enlarging the system reserved partition (because the free space is not adjacent to the system reserved partition) Any suggestion what I can do with Windows tools without using third party software? Best regards

Please see the thread above. You can shrunk the system volume and create a new system reserved partition with bigger size.Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind:a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk.b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume FDISKPART> active This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

Hello. I have exactly the same problem, and I changed my 100 Mb partition by a 400 mb partition, copy the boot files, put it as "active" and reboot. Everythings is ok, but I can't do my backup again. So someone have another answer to solve the problem? Thanks

Hi,The max limit of the system reserved partition size would be 490 MB. If its >=500 MB, you might hit the error again.Thanks,S.Soudamini.This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranties and confers no rights.

Hi, I see no posts in February. Still under investigation? About the proposed solution. I do exactly as recommended by Soudamini (and before by Sneha) but after command DISKPART> active I get error: Virtual Disk Service error: The specified partition type is not valid for this operation. Any suggestions how to resolve it (or what causes it)? I also notice that when immediately after running bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. command the used space on F: partition is about 32 Mb; and after a few minutes it increases (itself, without any interference from my part) to about 64 Mb (and this is presumably the cause of the backup problem because free space becomes less than 50 Mb). I do run BitDefender 2010. Any comments on that? Thank you.

I know why I got the error message - my F partition was logical, and not primary. When I made it primary the procedure went smoothly. However although I executed the procedure exactly as described my reboot failed (evidently boot records were not copied or not properly copied to F) and I had to use Windows rescue disk to repair things. Now everything seems working fine, and I was able to make a system image with Windows tools. The only problem I still have is how to make the old System Reserved partition (100 MB) large (extend option is greyed out) so I can use as primary data partition (my data partition is a logical one now as Windows somehow remembers the old System Reserved partition as primary and does not let other partition become primary, even if I delete it). But this is probably a topic for another thread but if someone knows the answer or the link to such thread I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Hi Aqualanche,I suspect you faced this issue because you already have 3 primary partitions on your system disk. To workaround this, you can use the DISKPART command line. Please follow these steps to repeat the process:1. Launch an elevated command prompt.2. Type diskpart In the diskpart command prompt, type:3. List disk This will give you a list of disks. 4. Identify the disk that you are interested in and type sel dis <DiskNumber> It is usually disk 0, but could be anything.5. create partition primary size=490 This will create a RAW primary partition.6. List par will list the partitions7. Identify the recently created partition from the list8. Sel par <IdentifiedPartitionNumber>9. Format FS=NTFS Quick Label="<Anything>" 10. ExitNow, you can repeat the steps to create a system volume. Hope this helps.Thanks,Sneha

A Workaround Without Repartitioning:When trying to make a system image of Windows 7, I got error 0x80780119. After searching this thread (plus others), I found my 100 MB System Reserved partition had grown a large USN journal. I assigned it a drive letter.Fsutil usn queryjournal F:Then I ran this command to clear and disable the USN journal on my System Reserved partition:fsutil usn deletejournal /N /D F:This freed 48 MB. The USN journal on my System Reserved partition remained disabled after a reboot, which I verified by re-running the query. Subsequently, I was able to make a system image without error.Look here for details on FSUtil: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc788042(WS.10).aspxMancer, MCITP-EA

Hi Sneha,when I right click on my 100mb. System Reserved partition, only "delete volume" and "help" opcions light up. So I can,t alocate the extra space that I took from drive C. If the option "expand" was highlighted, I could probably just click on "expand" and the System Reserved partition would grow by that much. Heck even "properties" doesn´t highlight, so I can´t see how much space the System Reserved partition has. Is there a trick so the rest of the options that show when you right click the "System Reserved partition" become "usable"highlighted? edit: I just noticed that the rest of the partitions show a percentage of available space, where as in the 100mb partition it says 100%,maybe there is no data in this partition and that is why "properties isn´t highlighted? If so how can I get back what´s supposed to be in there?

Hi,I´m a bit confused Sneha, when you say " Choose where you want to have your system volume". Are you talking about the System Reserved partition that is 100mb,and if so, when I do: 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active will the data in the System Reserved partition be transfered to the new volume F? And by "same disk that contains the boot partition" do you mean the one that´s inside the pc, I think I saw it was named 0 or O.

I'm having the same problem. After reading the whole blog, once again, I'm confirm Microsoft is a very screw up company. Very Very dispointed. Can they make a better product?

I have exactly the same problem on 64bit Win 7 Pro. I tried making my c:drive active, then my PC would not re-boot. To fix this i then used my original CD, and selected repair. Now my PC Boots...phew Now Microsoft when are you going to fix this problem? I feel very insecure that my PC is no longer backing up correctly. I am sure there are Millions of people having the same problem. Or are you expecting us all to go out and buy new software??

I have exactly the same problem on 64bit Win 7 Pro.Now Microsoft when are you going to fix this problem? I feel very insecure that my PC is no longer backing up correctly. I am sure there are Millions of people having the same problem I have exactly the same problem for several weeks now on my machine with an SSD HDD, and I would prefer not to mess with that drive for all the workarounds that were proposed here. So, Microsoft, the first question about this problem was posted in July 2009, can we expect you to fix it before the first anniversary, or...?

Bump! Any fix to this ongoing problem? Users shouldn't have to go through all this to make a system image work. Why does my 100MB partition shows it only has .. wow, now I somehow have 60 MB free. And I can backup system image. While doing it, I checked the hidden partition, it shows 38 MB free again. What's going on? I'll have to re-check once backup is complete. BTW, when I had 38 MB free and wasn't able to create a backup, I checked the journal size, and it was max 1 MB. So no problems there. I just don't know why the hidden partition was filled up. Let me see what I did. I just played a game of starcraft by closing explorer.exe from task manager. After playing, then opened taskbar, ran explorer.exe. Also changed region - language for non unicode program to Korean during last reboot. I don't know what happened, but I'm currently making a system image. I can't think of anything out of ordinary that I did. edit- I also remembered that I made Windows 7 partition active then back to the Restore partition active. I did not reboot between the changes. Also added a drive letter F: for the Restore partition. Then forgot about it, and rebooted and started playing games I mentioned above. Then I realized I didn't remove the drive letter so I removed it. After some while I decided to look into the problem again, and I don't see the problem any more. Wierd, isn't it?

My PC does not have any hidden partitions, and this problem as with many other users has just started out of the blue. We have done nothing, not used any partitioning software.... This error needs further clarification or at least telling us all what is exactly the problem

Usually you will get 0x81000019 error code only when you are trying to take back-up of the hidden partition. It seems that the software that you have used for the backup-utility of windows7 can't work along with the hidden system-partition. Please make sure that the partition for which you want to take back up is not hidden. The software used came with W7, and when you click on image backup and follow the steps it automaticaly marks the partitions required for it´s function, so you can´t choose not to include any hidden partition. One expects that the original software will function to make an image backup and not to have to undergo all the problems and efforts wasted in trying to make it work. Not even the experts at NPI HP Service could help me out, so finally I gave up and had to get Norton Ghost which works well, but was expensive.

I too have the error 0x81000033 when running the full system image backup. I could not assign a drive letter to my 100mb drive with the Disk Management. So, I went into the diskpart and ran the following commands:diskpartlist diskDISKPART> list par Partition ### Type Size Offset ------------- ---------------- ------- ------- Partition 1 System 100 MB 1024 KB ( 78.2 of 96.0MB free ) Partition 2 Reserved 128 MB 101 MB Partition 3 Primary 73 GB 229 MB Partition 4 Recovery 423 MB 74 GBsel dis 0list parselect partition 1assign letter=qfsutil usn queryjournal q:fsutil usn deletejournal /D q:After diskpart, I opened the "My Computer" and see that I have 78.2 of 96.0MB free. Despite that, I ran these commands on the new q: drive:C:\Windows\System32>q:Q:\>fsutil usn queryjournal q:Error: The parameter is incorrect.The FSUTIL utility requires a local NTFS volume.Q:\>fsutil usn deletejournal /D q:Error: The parameter is incorrect.The FSUTIL utility requires a local NTFS volume.Q:\>Any help is appreciated.

Any help is appreciated.Your answer may be just a search away: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322275 That article applies to XP, but it sounds like the same thing.I didn't say it was a good answer because the "by design" answer rarely satisifies anyone but maybe the developer.

I tried the functions from the XP website without luck:C:\Windows\system32>fsutil dirty query qError: The system cannot find the file specified.The specified drive format is invalid or not supported.C:\Windows\system32>fsutil dirty set qError: The system cannot find the path specified.C:\Windows\system32>q:Q:\>

Hi all, Here is an update regarding this issue. From what we have gathered from most customers, Symptom: Occurs when you have a large number of language packs installed on your machine. Technical details: Backup process involves the system writer that reports files in the important applications installed on the machine. In the case where a large number of language packs is installed, the metadata file reported by this writer becomes huge in size and hence does not fit the 100 MB volume. This causes backup to fail since there is not enough space for the shadowcopy creation. Please note that this symptom is not directly observable since this metadata file is created during backup and deleted at the end. Possible workarounds: 1. Uninstall unwanted/unused language packs. 2. Increase the size of the system volume. I have explained steps for 2 already on this thread. Please do check if the symptom matches the condition you have on your machine and apply one of the workarounds to solve your issue. Please post back if your case does not match the symptom mentioned. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT]Sneha [MSFT]

have you figured out a solution? cause I am having the same problem

Your awsome That fixed it, my back ups are working the language packs were screwing up everything I ran LPKSETUP from command seclected all to deleat Hope the back up finishes! if not I will be back

Although I accept that this is a possible solution to those running Win 7 Ultimate with language pack, it doesnt really strike me as a real solution as it is the reality that some customers use these language packs. In my situation I am running Win 7 Pro so language packs are not available to me. I have however increased the size of the reserved partition and yes it works! But I do think that Microsoft should come up with a fix that non techie nerds can install via a windows update that increases the size of the reserved partition via a re-boot. When all is said and done the backup facility is an important and heavily sold feature, so the millions of microsoft customers out there expect it to work every time and not to have to fiddle with stuff to make it work

1. I ran LPKSETUP and only have English installed. 2. I am afraid to mess with the system volume as I do not have a backup if it fails :-(

bcdboot did not work for me: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600] Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>f: F:\>c: C:\Windows\System32> bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. Bcdboot - Bcd boot file creation and repair tool. The bcdboot.exe command-line tool is used to copy critical boot files to the system partition and to create a new system BCD store. bcdboot <source> [/l <locale>] [/s <volume-letter>] [/v] [/m [{OS Loader ID}]] source Specifies the location of the windows system root. /l Specifies an optional locale parameter to use when initializing the BCD store. The default is US English. /s Specifies an optional volume letter parameter to designate the target system partition where boot environment files are copied. The default is the system partition identified by the firmware. /v Enables verbose mode. /m If an OS loader GUID is provided, this option merges the given loader object with the system template to produce a bootable entry. Otherwise, only global objects are merged. Examples: bcdboot c:\windows /l en-us bcdboot c:\windows /s h: bcdboot c:\windows /m {#########-####-####-####-##########} C:\Windows\System32>

I'm having the same problem : When trying to make a system image of Windows 7 Pro, I got error 0x80780119. 1) Pershaps, the software Bitdefender Total security Antivirus 2010 turns on the USN journal on system reserved partition after installation - which is in turn increasing the size of the reserved partition. Is it possible that Bitdefender is making the problem I uninstalled Bitdefender I have now calculated the size of the USN Journal - its about 32 MB I Ran FSUTIL assigned it a drive letter + Fsutil usn queryjournal F: + fsutil usn deletejournal /N /D F: I again ran backup : same problem (0x80780119). 2) Pershaps, when you have a large number of language packs installed on your machine. I Uninstall unwanted/unused language packs. I again ran backup : same problem (0x80780119). 3) I am not specialist to use Bcdboot - Bcd boot file creation and repair tool. 4) I am not specialist to increase the system reserved partition size to <500 MB. Is there a fix to resolve this problem ?

I have just installed Windows Pro 64. I have not yet finished installing all software but attempted a backup to keep what I've got and got this error immediately. I DO have BitDefender AntiVirus 2010 installed, and Nero. (I mention these only because I saw them mentioned earlier in this thread.) My 100MB System Reserved Partition is showing only 37.8MB of free space. (It cannot be expanded.) My only language pack showing is English. This is my 3rd or 4th install - I had a few problems initially, learned from those, and so did a fairly fast and "clean" install this time, so was very surprised to see this problem first up and still more surprised, after finding this thread, that there is apparently no update fix from Microsoft after 5 months or so. I don't relish another install - so PLEASE let me know when a simple, permanent, low risk, effective fix is available! I am not a specialist either, so do not want to try a potentially system threatening work-around.

Backup attempt fails with: "A shadow copy could not be created. Please check the 'VSS' and 'SPP' application event logs for more information. Details: Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. " Error code: 0x81000019 Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Disk 0 (100MB System Reserved Partition 37.8 free space) Disk 0 (C:) Simple - Basic - 353.24 GB [323.53 GB free space] Windows 7 Disk 0 (D:) Simple - Basic - 345.30 GB [261.07 GB free space] Disk 1 (E:) Simple - Basic - 186.31 GB [20.79 GB free space] Disk 2 (H:) Simple - Basic - 186.31 GB [186.18 GB free space] Backup Target This needs to be resolved, or the backup system removed from windows 7 OS

When following the suggested work-around I cannot set my new 490MB partition to active as it is "Logical". I have a RAID0 system across 2 1TB disks. My partitions are {System Reserved} {C: System} {D: Data - also Primary}. When I created a 490MB partiton at the end of my C: partition I was allowed to create ONLY a SIMPLE partition. (I am confused because there was info saying that this could be on a single disk only???) Do the instructions you gave to for Aqualanche apply in any way to my situation? Thanks.

I have 500+GB of free space on the backup partition, and my system image of c: is only 30gb or so, and c: has 120+gb free too. So plenty of space all around. Still, I get the same "insufficient storage..." error when doing my backups. If I delete all system image backups, I still get the same error when I try to backup again - even though I've just freed up another 30+GB in addition to the 500+GB already available. But... doing a chkdsk on that backup partition (after I've deleted the previous backups) has always eventuated in the backup succeeding. Pretty strange - but true. I'm looking to find a better backup solution now, cause I can't trust this backup solution that's been built in.

I've had my system for about 8 weeks. For the first 7 weeks life was good, backups working regularly and then this week... Error 0x81000019. I have the same problem as everybody in this thread. But, like some in this thread and to date there has been no real response, I have this situation: DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 1397 GB 0 B Disk 2 Online 379 GB 4096 KB DISKPART> sel dis 0 Disk 0 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> list part Partition ### Type Size Offset ------------- ---------------- ------- ------- Partition 1 OEM 39 MB 31 KB Partition 2 Primary 8 GB 40 MB Partition 3 Primary 1854 GB 8 GB See? No System partition. If the journal is going to the OEM partition I'm seriously in trouble just due to its normal size. I didn't set up this disk... DELL did. Do I need to make them aware of this problem? And can i create a system partition like everyone else has? Partition 2 is the Recovery partition. I'm not really sure which partition it's booting from.

Hi, Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically) to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, we recommend that you have a system image handy because it can be used to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash. If the System reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Management because of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround. Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind: a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk. b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration. This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] Sneha your the man! Ok my backups failed out of nowhere and I have tried 10 other thing that did not work. I kept getting error 0x80070002. This above fixed worked. BUT Instead of a new partition I just assigned a letter to my system partition.(B:). Then I ran the command bcdboot.exe C:\Windows /s b: NOT bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s b: assign the partition active with diskpart and DO NOT remove the letter. Reboot and backup. Keep in mind that I never was receiving error 0x81000019. I think the problem stems from other disk/image software messing up the partitions. Microsoft should look into it. Thanks again. <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script>

Sneha I recently had MS 7 ultimate installed on my system. Now I find I cannot do a backup and restore, frankly I do not care to read pages and pages of workarounds and what ifs. I am not a computer tech,90% of what you folks are talking about is over my head. All I know is I paid good money for a product that does not work, this is my second letter to you and I still do not have a fix. The tech that installed MS 7 buys it in bulk and therefor I cannot return it, he has stopped returning my calls because he cannot make this OS work either. Would you please contact me and help me to put my system back the way it was. I purchased it from dell and have all the discs that came with it. A remote repair with instructions from you via the telephone would be the right thing to do. I own a external HD, therefore I believe we would be able to move what we need to move during the repair and then put it back. I ran XP for almost three years without a lick of trouble and would like to go back to it. I also paid this tech to install MS office, which for the first three weeks was fine and now it says it is not a legal copy. This computer cost me about $400.00 and I do not want to spend more that I paid for it just to get it back to where it was. Please contact me directly so that we can straighten things out. Although I would prefer not to here is my E Mail Skilroya@hotmail.com I look forward to your response. Thank you Spencer

=============== 0x81000019 =============== The simple solution goes as follows: 1) Right click on Computer from your Desktop and select 'Manage' 2) Select 'Disk Management' 3) Right click on your OS drive and select 'Mark as Active' Now you will be able to 'Create an Image' =======================================

I managed to somehow inadvertently try to create a backup of my 64GB OS drive to my system partation, thereby taking up 100% of the system partion disk space. Easy solution was to just assign the system partition to a drive letter (which I may have inadvertently done previously), then delete all files from that drive in explorer. The I deleted the drive letter, and now my system image works.

When i run fsutil usn deletejournal /D f: (where f is my system reserved), it does not free up any space and i still can't create a system image. PLEASE HELP

Did Microsoft ever come up with a solution to this problem? I still cannot create a system image of my computer so if something happens, all my data will be lost. This is unacceptable. This has been an ongoing problem for over a year now and still no fix? I am extremely disappointed in Windows 7.

Why was my post deleted ? I've posted the solution for this ... so ... why was my post deleted ? Regards, Davi Nigro.MCP / MCSA / MCSA+M.

Thank you for posting on our forums. Please check to make sure that the hard drive is formatted in NTFS. If you think one of the updates can be the cause, unstill them one at a time to see if that fixes your problem.

I would suggest you to reduce the disk space System restore uses (say like 5% or even less) and also delete all the restore points for all the drives. Follow the below link for the same: How much disk space does System Restore require?: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/How-much-disk-space-does-System-Restore-require important: Deleting System Restore points deletes older restore points, including previous versions of files, will be deleted.

Hi, Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically) to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, we recommend that you have a system image handy because it can be used to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash. If the System reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Management because of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround. Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind: a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk. b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active SUPER, c'est génial Je le dis en français, désolé... J'ai compris le principe du problème et de la manipulation mais je n'ai pas procédé pareil (difficile de comprendre l'anglais), alors j'ai préféré utiliser gparted pour augmenter la taille de la partition... oui je sais, j'ai donc joué avec le feu. Par contre lors du redémarrage de windows ecran avec erreur erreur problème de disque ??? puis vérification du disque, etc.. j'ai du utilisé le disque de récupération, et là oh miracle !!! ça redémarre. C'était vraiment n'importe quoi d'utiliser gparted mais bon maintenant je suis en train de créer une sauvegarde, mon pc attendait ça depuis quelques mois... Alors je vous dit MERCI Au revoir Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration. This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] SUPER, c'est génial Je le dis en français, désolé... J'ai compris le principe du problème et de la manipulation mais je n'ai pas procédé pareil (difficile de comprendre l'anglais), alors j'ai préféré utiliser gparted pour augmenter la taille de la partition... oui je sais, j'ai donc joué avec le feu. Par contre lors du redémarrage de windows ecran avec erreur erreur problème de disque ??? puis vérification du disque, etc.. j'ai du utilisé le disque de récupération, et là oh miracle !!! ça redémarre. C'était vraiment n'importe quoi d'utiliser gparted mais bon maintenant je suis en train de créer une sauvegarde, mon pc attendait ça depuis quelques mois... Alors je vous dit MERCI Au revoir GOOGLE TRANSLATION ... SUPER Smart I say this in French, sorry ... I understand the principle of the problem and handling but I have not done the same (difficult to understand English), so I preferred to use gparted to increase the partition size ... yes I know, so I played with fire. By cons when you restart Windows error screen with disk error problem??? then check the disk, etc. .. I have used the recovery disk, and then oh miracle! it restarts. It was really anything to use gparted but hey now I'm trying to create a backup, my pc waiting for this for a few months ... So I said THANK YOU Goodbye

=============== 0x81000019 =============== The simple solution goes as follows: 1) Right click on Computer from your Desktop and select 'Manage' 2) Select 'Disk Management' 3) Right click on your OS drive and select 'Mark as Active' Now you will be able to 'Create an Image' ======================================= DO NOT follow this solution. I tried, but the back-up fails. Furthermore, once you restart your PC, you'll get the following error. BOOTMGR is missing Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart You'll have to put in the repair disk and repair start-up problems to get the PC running normal.

I was also getting this recently (0x81000019), even though I already had a 500mb system reserved partition (400MB+ free space) and the PC had been backing up fine. For me, it was a 3rd party boot-loader causing the problem (Chameleon). So the same error can be triggered for multiple different reasons. Whether it was just because of the bootloader or because the bootloader was also on a GUID partition, I am not sure, I have no reason to use it on an MBR partition so haven't bothered troubleshooting it to that degree. So, if everything else has failed, make sure your Windows drive is the first HDD that your BIOS tried to boot from

3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] bcdboot.exe C:\Windows /s F: (there was an extra /s in it!) but it works nicely after that change. I'll see how the new attempt at backup works after a reboot. If I don't write again ... It likely worked. I followed the directions to shrink the existing volume (didn't get much free space from the shrink, but then again I needed less than a Gig, so it was perfect. Formatted partition S in my case and then removed the drive letter after performing the above command. Win7Ult64 reported success, I'm crossing my fingers, rebooting, and backing up. If you never think outside the box, you'll never get out of that cubicle.

It seems that various underlying problems can cause backup to fail with the same error code. I get rapid failure of attempted Backup with the almost the same Windows backup / VSS / SPP errors in Event Viewer if I attempt a backup including a system image, after disabling the volmgrx.sys driver: Backup did not complete successfully because a shadow copy could not be created. Free up disk space on the drive that you are backing up by deleting unnecessary files and then try again. Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine IVssAsrWriterBackup::GetAsrMetadata. hr = 0x80070001, Incorrect function. Shadow copy creation failed because of error reported by ASR Writer. More info: Incorrect function. (0x80070001). This was surprising as I am using a netbook (Win 7 32 Pro with Intel MX-25 SSD and Intel AHCI driver / NM10 chipset) without RAID (which is the indicated function of volmgrx). Also strange that file backup without a system image works fine either way, and no problems making system restore points (plenty of spare disk space). But it is no doubt the trigger for this symptom when attempting a backup including a system image on my system - I tested with volmgrx.sys on vs off several times; perfect match. So check your related drivers (and give Microsoft a break if you tweak their software - they can not know what each user has broken).

While I respect your findings, what I dont agree with is your final statement "So check your related drivers (and give Microsoft a break if you tweak their software - they can not know what each user has broken)." And I also respect that you have not read the whole thread as it huge, but in my case I did nothing at all for my system to stop backing up. One week it was working the next week it stopped! Most of the people in this thread have got valid problems that nothing is getting done about other than "work arounds" these work arounds are only "bandaids" to the next problem and so on. There is a clearly a problem with the backup function in Win7 Pro and above or else why would Google search result come back with 2500 hits! Or lets look at it in another way....why does the message tell you there isnt enough space to take a backup? could the message be clearer ie which drive has the problem? Why is the system reserved partition only 100Mb if this is the issue with most users? Why do you have to be a techie geek to understand what this problem is refering to? etc.. I am sure other questions could be raised but it would get boring Look this backup feature is fantastic when it works, but when it stops working my life would be a living ____ if I had to rely on it soley. Luckily I am in a fortunate position that I am paranoid and I take images of my hard drive on a regular basis, so when I had this problem, I reverted to my Acronis image of 1 week prior to the problem and everything was fine again...and still is nearly 3 months later.

I have this problem also. Wow! Super long read through this thread... Running Win 7 Pro 64-Bit. I have one 300 GB drive with ONE partition that reports 64% free. I do NOT have a separate system partition. English is my only installed language. I'd be happy to report back any necessary data and/or post screenshots or videos showing information about my system.

Hi, do you guys use Truecrypt? Because having mounted volumes in Truecrypt causes backup to fail with error 0x81000019. Edit: I'm running Win 7 Pro 64-bit.

Windows 7 Backup has a simple interface, but it needs a complex underlying process (including volume shadow copies) to back up core programs while they are in use. It has a finite number of error messages to present on failure. So multiple underlying problems can result in the same error message. There are also multiple solutions, depending on how much time you want to spend: 1. If you want never to have another problem with Windows 7 Backup: (a) Turn off scheduled backups by Windows backup. (b) Install another backup program. (c) Optionally, stop complaining on this forum. If a 3rd party program fails later on you may be able to fix it by uninstalling and reinstalling (or not, if the problem turns out to be in a Windows service accessed by the 3rd party program). Then try 2 below. As a last resort, consider running sfc / scannow to check for and repair any found corrupt Windows system files. Unfortunately you can not uninstall/reinstall Windows Backup alone. 2. If “it worked until yesterday and now it fails”: (a) Use Windows System Restore (or one of your backed-up System Images) to return your system to a date before it failed. (b) Test Backup now, and after each system tweak or program installation to find what breaks it. (c) Optionally report any new understanding of the process on this forum. 3. If you want Windows Backup and you do not make regular System Restore points or Sytem Images (???): (a) Make sure that you have a working set of Windows installation and repair disks. (b) Back up all of your documents to another safe location (external drive), and save any beloved program configurations (print screen captures as a last resort). (c) Perform a clean installation of Windows. Start making regular System Restore points and/or Sytem Images. (d) Test Backup now, and after each system tweak or program installation to find what breaks it. (e) Optionally report any new understanding of the process on this forum. 4. If you want to understand the underlying process enough to check likely faults before resorting to 1, 2 or 3 (maybe because you have a highly configured system and you have made lots of changes since your last backup). This is tough. You may waste a lot of time. The process is not fully documented. Unless you are already familiar with services.msc, hidden devices, and elevated command prompts, this is probably not for you. Consider running sfc / scannow to repair any corrupt system files (but note that it will not change the setting if you have disabled a necessary driver). Thanks to the people who post solutions, it may be worth checking: (a) Can you make system restore points and file backups without a system image? If yes, do it now in case things get worse! If no, I would try 2 above (and be prepared for 3 and/or 1 above). (b) Is there sufficient free space on the source drive/partition (and on the hidden system partition) for a required temporary file in the process (~50 MB?)? Some system features may increase the required temporary file size (too many unused language packs?)? Under Windows 7, it is NOT necessary to make the partition containing the Windows folder the active partition if the original installation created a (usually hidden) active system partition with the required files for boot-up. But there may be a problem if free space runs low in the (hidden) active partition. Various ways are described in this forum to increase the available space (or to decrease the amount of space needed) if you find <50MB. (c) Is there sufficient space for the backup on the destination drive? Also check your disks for hardware or file errors (chkdisk). (d) Have any Windows Services or Drivers needed for Backup been disabled or corrupted? So far we know that this includes any Windows Service / driver commencing with any of the following: COM +, Microsoft Software Shadow, Volume Shadow, Windows Backup, volmg*, volsnap. No doubt others to do with disk or file systems are needed, and in some cases your system may work fine without them (until you try to make a Windows 7 Backup System Image). (e) Apparently VSS writers can become unstable if accessed by multiple programs at once (hence step 1a above). For advice on how to fix this, search for “vssadmin list writers” and “reset VSS”. It is not for beginners – ensure that you get correct instructions for your version of Windows. (f) Optionally report any new understanding of the process on this forum. PS: A similar trouble-shooting approach can be applied to many problems in Windows. Good luck if you are among those willing to try to help themselves. Good work if you are among those who post their solutions to help others (or you can post complaints that “I did nothing and MS should come to my house and fix it for me”...LOL).

OK Gus, I spent to much time trying everything you recommend with no success. I was able originally to make successful backups but after while and all the sudden the backup started to fail. I reviewd the kind of changes I have done and I found that I installed additional language pack. I simply uninstalled it. After that the backups worked fine. The 100 MB hidden partition's size has nothing to do with this problem. Thought to let you know.

Hi, Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically) to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, we recommend that you have a system image handy because it can be used to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash. If the System reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Management because of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround. Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind: a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk. b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration. This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] This on worked for some of my clients. people tend to ignore the size of the backup partition.CESabarre Free Tech Support Bad News: There really is no such thing as Free Tech Support. Good News: Oftentimes a simple thank you is the best form of payment!

Hi, Can someone who is facing this issue report the following: 1. What is the used space on the volume? 2. Assign a drive letter (say F:) to the System reserved partition. Launch an admin command prompt. dir /s F: >dir.txt dir /s /AH > hidden.txt. Send across dir.txt and hidden.txt 3. Contents of <SystemDrive>\Windows\Logs\WindowsBackup Please send the above to sneham_at_microsoft_dot_com (Remove underscores and replace words with characters). We have seen a large number of hits on this issue. We want to investigate on what is causing insufficient space on the System reserved patition. Your inputs are appreciated. @ Albee: You are right in observing that it takes a few minutes after a recovery for the space on system reserved partition to be reclaimed. This problem will be solved in about 30 minutes and should not be ongoing. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] If you think you have similar issue, Read this first to get faster resolution.CESabarre Free Tech Support Bad News: There really is no such thing as Free Tech Support. Good News: Oftentimes a simple thank you is the best form of payment!

I also have this issue. Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Win backup does not work - even with image turned off. No language packs other than English. Further, I believe the issues noted in this thread are also preventing Retrospect Professional (v7.7.341) Open File backup from working correctly. My hidden partition has 31 MB free. It contains just one file: $UpgDrv$, created on 10/22/2009 - the day when Win 7 was installed (clean install). It is quite surprising that MS has NOT YET issued any fix for this. It has been almost one year that this problem has been cussed and discussed. Finally, there is a image and backup program that does work - Macrium Reflect. Why can it work and the MS solution will not?Bill

Thanks after all the different suggested ways to solve this irritating problem this worked! But as the final **important** message states don't leave as activated, not as in final line-diskmgmt.msc make the boot partition (100MB ) as active partition. Then restart. Cheers thanks for help Andy

BRILLIANT I HAVE FOUND SOMETHING THAT WORKS! THANKS A LOT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIX THIS FOR AGES CHEERS ANDY

For god's sake ! I NEVER NEVER ever will use windows system image backup as it loads of crappy and always end up error or failed restored. Just use normal windows 7 for everything elses except the back, I use this back up here http://www.todo-backup.com/ and it never FAILED yet not even once for many times of backup and restored. Better than windows 7 backup / restore. Microsoft are useless and waste of times. They shouldn't use system partition as a backup (because the hard disk (same hard disk) could be dead at any times. They should instead backup to USB hard disk, USB fash memory or on 2nd HDD (for backup) they should get rid of it on the next Windows 8 version. I never use windows backup restore as I don't TRUST it myself. Nor TRUST microsoft of not fixed it as they haven't got any clue. Use third party backup like Acronis True Image (paid) or use free full version here: http://www.todo-backup.com/ as it 100% free and 100% work all times and it does support Windows 7 and support RAID0. Windows backup/restore will never WORK to restore on your new hard disk or RAID0 recovery. Very disappointed overall in Microsoft.

I solved the very same problem by installing a partition manager (Easeus's Free one) and enlarging the standard 100 MB hidden boot partition to 300 MB (any value under 500 MB will do). That was accomplished by shrinking the C partition with 200 MB, moving it up over the unallocated space created on the right (in a linear representation of partitions starting with the hidden one to the left). Then the unalocated space "moved" to the left so I could expand the hidden boot partition. It appears that Shadow Copy cannot work properly if available space on any drive is less than 40%.Cosmin Tataru - http://windowsfaralimite.ro; http://reparcalculatoare.com

OK, it is now 2.15am and I have been trying to get my backup working for the last 4 hours. First of all, there are about 10 threads on this - all with the same scenario of problem but with different answers. Hmmm. Anyway, none of the above fixes worked for me because my system has already got three primary partitions (win7, reserved, boot) and so I can't use the Diskpart solution. Anyway, the ACTUAL root problem is that the system reserved boot partition is set at 100mb and this is too small. Having said this, it is created when the system is created and cannot be extended because there is another live partition following/adjacent to it. If only there was a way to increase the size of the system reserved partition. Well, that's when I found the last entry in this forum mentioning EASUS partition manager. I downloaded it and within 5 minutes had solved the problem. I am writing this whilst waiting for EASUS to increase my system reserved partition to 300mb and move my data on the disk. 1) The EASUS software solves the above problem (easily, without fuss and without Diskpart, BCD, etc...). 2) Why don't Microsoft buy/license this technology to address this year long, outstanding bug? Cheers, Mark

FYI, as a follow up to my post above, I came downstairs today to find that my system backup (with system image) had been succesful. The problem now seems solved. I can propose that using a partition manager (such as EASUS) to increase the system reserved partition to 300mb seems to be the answer (for me anyway). Cheers, Mark

"http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/ace0faac-a0af-4740-a331-2b14d604a846" . This is a link to an answered question along the same lines as yours. Alternatively, you can try the link at the end of my tag for help with windows issues."http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/default.aspx ". This is MICROSOFT'S new, FREE, fully automated, anonymous support portal, which can help users resolve windows and other product issues with a few mouse clicks. BOOKMARK THIS SITE, EVERYBODY !!!

Just wanted to say that I've been on probably most of the forums where this issue is being discussed and have tried all of the different solutions and nothing worked for me. I used to have Windows BackUp running fine and then one day it just said that it failed. The thing is, I checked the USN on the system reserved and it was only 8 megabytes, not thirty, and it's free space in idle time was around 70 megabytes, so I don't know why it was having this issue. Also, I keep reading about people saying they moved the reserve files to a new partition (which I tried) and and then deleted or formatted the original reserve drive.....how did anyone do that? Anywhere I go to try to format or delete that original partition it says I'm not allowed to even though I'm administrator. Anyway that was all very frustrating, but my main point is that in my BIOS I changed my hard drives to run as AHCI instead of IDE, for reasons other than this problem, and figured I might as well try the backup again, and now it works! I don't know why, but I thought you all might want to know about my random success story. However, we'll see if backup continues to work.

I solved the problem . Sorry for bad english. Go to Disk Management. Add a driver letter to "System reserved partition" Go to my computer and disable "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties." in system reserved partition. Now 70 mb is free in system reserved partition :) And no problem system image.

I had same problem in the backup windows 7 64 bit. I solved by looking at the Windows Media Player, as the MP creates library links. The backup follows the link of music, videos etc. and backup all the library files in the backup. If the files are deleted or moved. To solve the problem of delete the link in MP>Organise > Manage libraries and you be able to see all the links. If you delete the links and you will be able to backup in Windows 7 without any errors and to any drive in the system.

Great, this works for me...I had BitDefender installed at some point so I guess this caused my problem but once this log has been deleted it works OK.

Hi, Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically) to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, we recommend that you have a system image handy because it can be used to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash. If the System reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Management because of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround. Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration. This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] Hi, Some advices for theses who have windows 7, i spent time to solve some problems and i want to share for avoiding loss of time. More details about how to create the partition : 1. If you have already 3 parts, make sure the new one, appears highlighted in blue not in green, in this case it means that the new part was created in virtual drive and it doesn t' work for the following. It must be a main part. How to transfer boot file on new part F : 2. Once part is created, RUN command absolutely in admistrator mode, else you will have the message 'failed to copy boot file' 3. The format of the command to run is not totally these given previously , for Windows 7 it must be : bcdboot.exe c:\windows /s F: the first /s disappears, same for the dot at the end. If you don't have the msg 'now the boot files are copied...' who appears 5 seconds after, it s that the command aborted (be careful if DOS return the description of the command, it s not good==> I believed that, go on the manips and when i reboot i had a "bootmgr missing" i could get out by putting the windows 7 disk, boot on the disk, choose a repair action and type a command to reset on the 1rst system partition.) OUF!!! 4. Active the new volume with diskpart ==> no changement. Now, for me it's work , i am be able to make a backup. Thankyou. Lionel. 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind: a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk. b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active

hi sneha i have the same problem but i have 294 mb for reserved for system with 254mb free space and 39.7 mb used space many thanks for help belsacyr

Thanks Mancer, this solution worked for me! :o)

Hi folks, I was having this issue with a Windows 7 PC with this error code: 0x800423f3 - these steps cured the problem first time. Its taken on and off 6 months for me to sort this :9 1) Start the computer in Safe Mode without networking. 2) Open a command prompt as administrator 3) Type "net stop winmgmt" without quotes and press enter to make certain the WindowsManagementInstrumentation (WMI) service is not running. 4) Go to the windows\system32\WBEM\ and rename the Repository folder. 5) Reboot and restart as normal <br>6) Open a command prompt as administrator. 6) Type "net stop winmgmt" without quotes and press enter to stop the wmi service. 7) Type winmgmt /resetRepository and restart the system.

Just solved the problem definitivelly using EASUS Partition Manager (Which is free for home use) to resize the System reserved partition to ~490MB.

I had the same issue with my back ups reporting errors that led me to view my logs to find VSS shadow copy errors. I stumbled across this forum and the fix that I am replying to worked for my system. I just applied this fix today, I will report if fix held, USN journal remains off. My free space on system reserve was 69.8 MB free after trying method here was being reported as 70 MB free which seems to support a statement made earlier in the forum that there must be 70MB free for process to complete. I hope this helps Microsoft develop a fix this has been causing me some grief I was happy to finish a backup again.

A Workaround Without Repartitioning: When trying to make a system image of Windows 7, I got error 0x80780119. After searching this thread (plus others), I found my 100 MB System Reserved partition had grown a large USN journal. I assigned it a drive letter. Fsutil usn queryjournal F: Then I ran this command to clear and disable the USN journal on my System Reserved partition: fsutil usn deletejournal /N /D F: This freed 48 MB. The USN journal on my System Reserved partition remained disabled after a reboot, which I verified by re-running the query. Subsequently, I was able to make a system image without error. Look here for details on FSUtil: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc788042(WS.10).aspx Mancer, MCITP-EA I had originally posted that I followed Mancer's solution and that it had worked for me. It did work for one back up when my scheduled backup attempted to complete a week later it failed again so the solution seems to be a one time fix at least for me. It would be grate if Microsoft could solve this issue. I should not have to exclude system image from my backups. In my case the journaling did indeed turn back on on the system reserve. I still have 70 MB free but backup still was unsuccessful. I could probably disable the journaling again but why won't it stay off? It does seem backup will complete if journaling is off on system reserve. I am open to suggestions on how to turn journaling off on my system reserve or to isolate what keeps turning it on.

Soundamini, Could you or someone show exactly what needs to be entered for command "fsutil usn deletejournal /D <Volume Guid Name for Reserved partition>", i.e, how do I assign a volume guide name to reserved partition. etc. Thanks, Chuck

Chuck, Click on your start button. In the search bar type disk. About the fourth or so selection down you will see create and format disk partitions. That will take you into disk management. There are other ways but that is one. Once there you can right click system reserved and assign a drive letter to it. Once you have done this your command will be : "fsutil usn deletejournal /N /D 'F:'" (where F: is the drive letter you assigned in the previous step and take away the quotes.)

Hi, Unfortunately, that is not sufficient space for backups (system image specifically) to run. If you want only file backups, unchecking "Include a system image" is the solution for you. However, we recommend that you have a system image handy because it can be used to restore your machine in the case of a hard disk crash. If the System reserved partition cannot be extended using Disk Management because of lack of contigous space adjacent to it, creating a new system volume is the workaround. Here are the steps to move the system volume to any other volume: 1. Choose where you want to have your system volume. Few things you need to keep in mind: a. System volume can only be created on a primary partition of MBR disk. b. If system volume & boot volume are together, then BitLocker feature cannot be used to encrypt volumes on your machine. 2. Suggest creating a new volume (say F:) on the same disk that contains the boot partition of size of about 490 MB (be careful to keep it less than 500 MB). 3. Assuming Windows 7 is installed on C: on your machine. From an elevated command-prompt run: bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:. 4. From elevated command-prompt run: DISKPART 5. From the disk part command-prompt: DISKPART> select volume F DISKPART> active Now you can reboot your machine and F: will become the system volume. You can undo this by repeating the same steps using the original system volume (you have to assign drive-letter to it) to revert to your previous configuration. This should help resolve your issue. Please let me know if it works. Thanks, Sneha [MSFT] Syntax mistake in step 3: it should be "bcdboot.exe C:\Windows /s F:", not "bcdboot.exe /s C:\Windows /s F:"

This solution (ds2000, June 10) worked for me. I've tried just about everything else, including a windows 7 repair install, with no success. Thanks ds2000, you saved me a long rebuild of my development workstation!

A SHADOW COPY COULD NOT BE CREATED - PLEASE CHECK VSS & SPP APPLICATION EVENT LOGS FOR MORE INFORMATION. DETAILS: INSUFFICIENT STORAGE AVAILABLE TO CREATE EITHER THE SHADOW COPY STORAGE FILE OR OTHER SHADOW COPY DATA". error code 0x81000019 Hi everyone, I just spent 6 or more hours on the phone with MS level 1 and then level 2 software engineers. They accessed my pc remotely and together, we came up with a solution to this problem. This is a temporary solution until MS solves it permanently in an update. It's a very simple solution but I caution you that you must follow the instructions exactly otherwise you will not be able to boot up to windows after a restart so here is Sangeeta Mohanty's email with the solution... Tried to make C:\Drive as active in Disk management, it will make the boot partition (100MB ) inactive automatically, once you restart will get error boot manager is missing. We have a temporary solution. Please go to diskmgmt.msc (OR DISK MANAGEMENT IN CONTROL PANEL) and make the C:\ partition as activate and try backing up using system image, it should work. Never restart the computer after that. Once the backup is done, please go to diskmgmt.msc make the boot partition (100MB ) as active partition. Then restart. It should work. (IT DOES WORK - I'VE TRIED!) ** IMPORTANT** Please remember never make C:\ partition active and re boot you won't be able to boot. The reason is boot partition (100MB ) contains you boot files. Result: was able to resolve the issue. Hope this helps - I know it was very frustrating and I was determined to get a resolution. Mike it works on my schnuckie

A SHADOW COPY COULD NOT BE CREATED - PLEASE CHECK VSS & SPP APPLICATION EVENT LOGS FOR MORE INFORMATION. DETAILS: INSUFFICIENT STORAGE AVAILABLE TO CREATE EITHER THE SHADOW COPY STORAGE FILE OR OTHER SHADOW COPY DATA". error code 0x81000019 Hi everyone, I just spent 6 or more hours on the phone with MS level 1 and then level 2 software engineers. They accessed my pc remotely and together, we came up with a solution to this problem. This is a temporary solution until MS solves it permanently in an update. It's a very simple solution but I caution you that you must follow the instructions exactly otherwise you will not be able to boot up to windows after a restart so here is Sangeeta Mohanty's email with the solution... Tried to make C:\Drive as active in Disk management, it will make the boot partition (100MB ) inactive automatically, once you restart will get error boot manager is missing. We have a temporary solution. Please go to diskmgmt.msc (OR DISK MANAGEMENT IN CONTROL PANEL) and make the C:\ partition as activate and try backing up using system image, it should work. Never restart the computer after that. Once the backup is done, please go to diskmgmt.msc make the boot partition (100MB ) as active partition. Then restart. It should work. (IT DOES WORK - I'VE TRIED!) ** IMPORTANT** Please remember never make C:\ partition active and re boot you won't be able to boot. The reason is boot partition (100MB ) contains you boot files. Result: was able to resolve the issue. Hope this helps - I know it was very frustrating and I was determined to get a resolution. Mike it works on my schnuckie

The solution that worked for me was rather simple, used Easus Partition Master to expand the size of the Reserved partition on the OS drive, doubled it and everything worked like charm.

Hello all! I would like to request that someone out there at Microsoft put this in a knowledge-base article. I was plagued by this problem and would have never in a million years guessed that BitDefender 2010 (which I uninstalled long ago) could have done something so stupid. I also never would have guessed that the System Volume Partition didn't have enough free space. Thanks!

I also experience the problem. I sent the details. From what I see, there are many localized boot files on that volume. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the problem may have started after I downloaded ALL the language packs (I hate when Windows Update tells me I have optional updates to install). 3 years later, the problem is still not fixed. I just had it on a fully patched Windows 7 x64 Ultimate computer at work. Now I try to remove some language packs, to see if it will help.

UPDATE: June 11, 2012 I have been trying to figure this out since Windows 7 was released! The first backup works fine. It's after i restore an image, and then try to create a backup from that. I've heard to give it time for Backup & Restore to reset or something.. i've waited days.. and still no dice! I've been told by M$ that language packs are the culprit. B$ !! My Windows 7 is English.. i don't have any language packs. It's almost like M$ did this on purpose to prevent piracy or something. I have wasted so much time on this issue. I have create tons of images. But after restoring an image, and then trying to make a backup from that always causes an error: "Not enough space". I have a 1TB External HD. I have plenty of space! After all these years.. i finally figured out it's related to that stupid "100MB Hidden Partition". GUYS.. WORD OF ADVICE.. DO NOT LET WINDOWS INSTALL THAT "HIDDEN PARTITION".!!!!!!!!!! HERE'S HOW.. When you get to the screen where you can partition your HDs: - Create/partition as normal - Windows 7 will force you to create a "Hidden Partition" - Let it - After you've set up your HD/Partition: Delete 1 partition (if you only have 1, delete that) - Now highlight the "Hidden Partition" > click "Extend". - it will ask for the size.. enter the size of your HD or that partition you deleted. - format it - now that "Hidden Partition" is gone :) Instead of using this stupid "Hidden Partition", Windows will use a folder on your HD, which prevents this stupid backup error! I've created backups from backups from backups as a test.. and NO PROBLEMS now :) If you want to avoid my headaches.. and everyone else's headaches as visible on this page.. AVOID THAT 'HIDDEN PARTITION' AT ALL COST!!!! GOOD LUCK :)