Microsoft KB Archive/883357

= Your backup program may fail or incorrectly exclude some files from your backup in Windows XP =

Article ID: 883357

Article Last Modified on 2/6/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

-



Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry



SYMPTOMS
Your backup program may fail or incorrectly exclude some files from your backup after you install the Background Intelligent Transfer Services (BITS) version 2.0 update.

For additional information about this update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

842773 Update package that includes Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) version 2.0 and WinHTTP 5.1 is available for Windows XP



CAUSE
This problem occurs if the BITS 2.0 service starts after you install update 842773. BITS 2.0 writes the BITS_Metadata entry to the following registry subkey:

Values in the FilesNotToBackup registry key are used by various backup programs to determine what files must be excluded from your backup and then recovered. BITS 2.0 creates the BITS_Metadata entry in this registry key to make sure that recovering from a backup will not affect the ability of BITS 2.0 to resume a file transfer after an unexpected disruption.

The the BITS_Metadata entry that BITS 2.0 writes to the FilesNotToBackup registry key is not correctly formed. Specifically, the the BITS_Metadata entry that BITS 2.0 creates is in multi-string value (REG_MULTI_SZ) format. This format requires two NULL characters at the end of the value data. However, BITS 2.0 terminates the the BITS_Metadata entry data with one NULL character that is followed by an 0xFEEE unicode character. In some cases, this malformed value causes your backup program to fail or to inaccurately interpret the file path to exclude from your backup.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, download and then install the following update.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the WindowsXP-KB883357-x86-enu.exe package now.

Release Date: August 13, 2004

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

This update modifies the BITS 2.0 service so that it verifies that the registry value that is described in the &quot;Cause&quot; section is present and that the registry value is in the correct format. The BITS 2.0 service rewrites the registry value if it is required. This behavior occurs every time that the BITS 2.0 service starts.



WORKAROUND
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To work around this problem, modify the registry to create the correct registry value. To do this, follow these steps.  Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

Reg.exe ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup /v BITS_metadata /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d &quot;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\*&quot; /f





STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section.



MORE INFORMATION
For more information about BITS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

818746 Background Intelligent Transfer Service in Windows Server 2003 white paper

Additional query words: backup kb842773

Keywords: kbtshoot kbqfe kbprb kbhotfixserver KB883357

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.