Microsoft KB Archive/153984

= NTBackup Utility Unusable; Err Msg: "NTBackup Error" =

Article ID: 153984

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51

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This article was previously published under Q153984



SYMPTOMS
The NTBackup utility is unusable. The following error message may appear when you try to start your backup procedure:

NTBackup error



CAUSE
This usually happens when the default rights in %Systemroot% or %Systemroot%\System32 have been modified. Changing the rights in the %Systemroot%\System32 directory to restrict access may render the utility NTBackup unusable.

For example, the default rights in the %Systemroot%\System32 directory are as follows:

  Administrators       Full Control Creator Owner       Full Control Everyone            Change Server Operators    Change System              Full Control

An administrator may want to change the rights of the group Everyone if users are logging on to the console to perform various administration tasks (such as back up system, check application log files, file maintenance, and so forth). After modification, the rights are as follows:

  Administrators       Full Control Creator Owner       Full Control Everyone            Read (RX) (RX) Server Operators    Change System              Full Control

A user who performs nightly backups and who is only a member of the Backup Operators group will not be able to back up the system. This is because NTBackup creates its Backup.log file in the %Systemroot% directory (the default location) and temp files(catalog files) created by NTBackup are created in the same directory where NTbackup.exe is located. The Backup.log file can be moved to any location on the hard disk by changing the default location in the Backup Information dialog box in NTBackup, but the temp files created by the application cannot be changed.



RESOLUTION
There are three workarounds to this problem:


 * Give the group Backup Operators Change rights to System32.

-or-
 * Give the group Everyone Change rights (RWXD) to System32.

-or-
 * Move NTbackup.exe to another directory on the hard disk, such as c:\backup, and assign appropriate rights.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.5x. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Keywords: kbnetwork KB153984

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