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SBS Backup failing with error referencing VSS and MSDE

This info comes courtesy of Andrew Delozey at Interprom. 

The Issue:
Nightly backup was repeatedly failing within one minute of starting.

The Error: 
Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.
“MSDEWriter” has reported an error 0x800423f4. This is part of System State. The backup cannot continue.

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:800423f4
Aborting Backup.

The Details:
Initially when this was entered into Google SBS 2003 groups and general Google web searching there were many results returned referencing Simple Recovery Mode on SQL database installs.  After speaking with Microsoft Support they clarified that the problem was more specific to Volume Shadow Copy services needing a hotfix (891957)applied so that they are readable by the backup wizard in SBS 2003. 

The problem was actually how the SBS backup wizard was seeing VSS.  Oddly enough the backup would start if you just ran NT backup but failed when starting the backup with the SBS Backup wizard.

The Fix:
There is a hotfix for KB891957 that once installed requires a reboot.  SP1 was installed on this box but I’m not certain it’s a prereq. 

Once the hotfix was applied and the server rebooted we ran a test backup using the SBS Backup Wizard.  The backup started successfully which it had not done prior to the hotfix being installed.  That night the backup ran all the way through successfully, the problem was solved.

Thanks for the heads-up Andrew!

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No entiendo senor Office 2007

Today I got my first email with an Office 2007 Word .docx attachment, and since I’m still running Office 2003 on my desktop PC at the office, I couldn’t open it.  So now I have to e-mail Andrew back and ask him to re-save the file in Office 2003 format, right?  Wrong.

Office logoTitle:  Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats (Beta 2 Technical Refresh)
File Name: O2007Cnv.exe
Date Published: 09/14/2006
Language: English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish
Download Size: 26.6 MB
Download URL: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/converter.mspx

Description:  Open, edit, save, and create files in the robust file formats new to the 2007 Microsoft Office system in Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003. 

By installing the Compatibility Pack (Beta 2 Technical Refresh) along side of Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, save, and create files using the robust file formats new to the 2007 Microsoft Office system, including:

Word

  • .docx—Microsoft Office Word 2007 document
  • .docm—Microsoft Office Word 2007 macro-enabled document
     

PowerPoint

  • .pptx—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 presentation
  • .pptm—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled presentation
  • .potx—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 template
  • .potm—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled template
  • .ppsx—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 show
  • .ppsm—Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 macro-enabled show

Excel

  • .xlsb—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 binary workbook
  • .xlsx—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbook
  • .xlsm—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 macro-enabled workbook
  • .xltx—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 template
  • .xltm—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 macro-enabled template
  • .xlam—Microsoft Office Excel 2007 add-in
     
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