Backup Doesn't Back Up Entire Hard Disk or Create Log File

 Last reviewed: May 14, 1997
Article ID: Q110481

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft U.S. Service Pack 2 for Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SYMPTOMS

NTBACKUP.EXE does not back up the entire hard disk drive when issued from the command line or from a batch file. Also, the following error may appear: 

   You do not have permission to access portions of \xxx
   Please see the owner or administrator to get permission.
   Error reading alternate file data.
where "xxx" will be part of the subdirectory path name.

If you use the command line statement: 

   NTBACKUP backup C:\<directory path> /B /L "C:\BACKUP.LOG"
NTBackup will back up the specified directory, but will not back up the local registry as specified by the /B switch. If the specified directory is not the root directory, the following error message will appear in the status box: 

   You do not have permission to access portions of \xxx.
   Please see the owner or administrator to get permission.
   Error reading alternate file data.
NTBACKUP.EXE will also create an empty log file with a size of 2 bytes and write it in the \\WINNT directory instead of the path specified by the /L switch.

CAUSE

In Service Pack 2 for Windows NT, NTBACKUP.EXE was modified to recognize Unicode. This caused a regression problem where it did not parse command line parameters correctly.

RESOLUTION

Service Pack 2 has been re-released with a correction for this problem.

If you applied the previous Service Pack 2 before 1/31/94, you need to update Windows NT to the new version.

To determine if you have the new Service Pack 2 on a running system, at a command prompt type "WINVER".

If WINVER shows that the release is: 

   Build 528: CSD003  - you have the old Service Pack 2.
If WINVER shows that the release is: 

   Build 528: Service Pack 2  - you have the new Service Pack 2.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces): 

   S E R V P A C K

Additional query words: prodnt failure broke
Keywords : kbbug3.10 kbtool ntutil
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: May 14, 1997
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