Windows Backup Archives - DavidAtkin.com

Windows Server Backup – “The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect”

By David | May 3, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Problem:

I had used AOMEI Server Edition to re-size the Partitions on a Windows 2008 R2 Server. Once the re-size was complete the server functioned as normal but the Window Server Backup stopped working.

I was getting Error Event 146 in the Backup Log with the message:

“A volume VOLUME_NAME included for backup is missing. This could be because the volume is dismounted, reformatted or disk is detached.”

For more information about this error see the TechNet Article here:

In my case I could not remove the Volume from Windows Server Backup. Attempting to modify the backup Schedule via the GUI gave me the error:

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect

Solution:

To resolve the issue I disabled Windows Backup via the GUI. I then re-setup the backup as normal with a single External Backup Drive. This retained my current backups and did not format the drive.

I then added the other drives into the Backup Schedule via the “wbadmin enable backup -addtarget” command. For more information on this command see here:

The backups then worked as they should.

Unable to add a new Backup Destination via the Windows Backup Console

By David | April 18, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Problem:

Unable to add a new Windows Backup Destination to an existing Windows Backup Schedule via the Windows Backup mmc snap-in (Console).

Resolution:

Use wbadmin in an Elevated Command Prompt to add the new Destination Drive to the Backup Schedule.

Run the following command in an elevated command prompt to determine the Disk Identifier of the new disk:

wbadmin get disks

Based on the output, locate the disk that will be added to the scheduled backup. Make a note or copy the Disk Identifier (including the brackets). Be sure to copy the correct ID! If you don’t you could end up formatting another drive. The output will resemble the following:

Disk name: xxxxxxxxxxx
Disk number: x
Disk identifier: {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
Total space: xxx.xx GB
Used space : xxx.xx GB

Run the following command to add the new disk to the Scheduled backup. Use the Disk Identifier from the previous step as the “AddTarget” parameter.

wbadmin enable backup -addtarget:{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}

When you receive the following prompt, type Y for Yes.
“Do you want to enable scheduled backups with the above settings?”

Once this has been completed, open up the Windows Server Backup Console and make sure that you can see the new.

The only irritating thing about adding a drive via this method is that it allocated a long name to the disk. It’t not really a problem, its just annoying if you have a number of backup drives labelled as ‘Backup 1’ ‘Backup 2’ etc and then you have a generated disk name that doesn’t suit.

Microsoft KB Article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2009365/error-message-when-you-try-to-add-an-additional-disk-to-a-scheduled-backup-the-filename,-directory-name,-or-volume-label-syntax-is-incorrect