Error Backing Up Shadow Copy and System State in Backup Exec 12.5

I have been working hard on setting up a new Backup Exec 12.5 server. On of the tedious parts is adding new servers to backup selection lists. Want to know what is more tedious though? When you go to select System State and Shadow Copy Components backups and you get an error!

Man that is frustrating because to fix it requires a registry hack, and a reboot of the server. Do you know what that means? After hours or maintenance window work. Both of which means late nights. Not so bad if you get paid overtime, but it sucks if you are strictly salary.

Anyhoo, enough whining about after hours work. I mean, it goes with the territory right? So what is the error you see? I’m sure there are others, but the ones I’ve been seeing lately say:

Error

An error was encountered while attempting to browse the contents of Shadow Copy Components. A failure occurred accessing the Writer metadata.

Error

An error was encountered while attempting to browse the contents of Systems State. A failure occurred accessing the Writer metadata.

Have you seen that error too? Maybe that is why you are here right? Let me tell you how to fix it.

1. Open the registry editor on the server having issues.
   
   Start>Run>Regedit
   


2. Export the following key to a safe place
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions
   
   
3. Delete the key you just exported
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions
   
   
4. Reboot

Once the server is rebooted, you should be able to go back into Backup Exec and add the Shadow Copy Components and System State.

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