catastrophic failure 0x8000FFFF

donna z.

New Member
when trying to back up files on vista prem I get the following message:catastrophic failure 0x8000FFFF. What could be wrong and in simple terms can anyone tell me how to correct this? Then it says something like, "unable to back up files".My computer is about 6 months old. This really bums me out.
Thank you
D.
 

My Computer

I get the same message and so far have not found any help in backing up my computer. Wonder if I should back up another way?
thanks- Carol M
when trying to back up files on vista prem I get the following message:catastrophic failure 0x8000FFFF. What could be wrong and in simple terms can anyone tell me how to correct this? Then it says something like, "unable to back up files".My computer is about 6 months old. This really bums me out.
Thank you
D.
 

My Computer

I've tried to figure this one out before; no luck. I quit using the Vista backup because it behaved unreliably for me. I strongly advocate using Acronis True Image for making backups--especially full PC backups. There are lots of good programs for making file backups. I like Goodsync best--of those I have tried.
 

My Computer

I hate it when I do several things and I solve a problem, but do not know which "thing" solved the problem. I have not seen a solution on any thread, but I was able to solve my problem so I wanted to share.

**In the original post I forgot to mention doing a disk cleanup, particularly temp files. Windows has a history of having problems when there are temp files; probably opens an existing one instead of creating new.

You may or may not need to make sure that the Volume Shadow Service is running, but I did (a suggestion from the MS Technet forum). By itself, this did not fix the problem:

Start, right click Computer, Manage; select Service. Services and Applications, Volume Shadow Service, and set the service to "Automatic"

Trying to defrag my hard drive I got an error indicating that I had a problem - I'm assuming that this was not a coincidence. Not sure if this is part of the solution (the part I hate), but I could not get Vista to run chkdsk on the boot disk. This was either a quirk or part of the problem - I've done it before. I started Vista and before it completely started I held the power button down for 5 seconds and it shuts down immediately. Keep in mind you are trying to back up your system so this is a really bad time to intentionally crash the system. The smart way is to create a boot CD/DVD and put chkdsk on the CD/DVD; boot from the CD/DVD and then run chkdsk on your boot drive.

When Vista restarted it indicated that it had failed to start correctly and recommended that I allow Vista to scan the disk. Once again, keep in mind that I was asking the O/S that refused to do a backup to repair itself so that I could do a backup.

The good news is that it worked. The repair found and fixed problems (didn't share with me what it repaired unfortunately) and now my backup is working. I am able to back up to both DVDs and an external hard drive.

Experience says that it was running chkdsk to repair a disk problem that eventually solved the problem, but with MS products, one just never knows if it's the process or one step. Could have been the combination of setting the Volume Shadow Copy to automatic and running chkdsk.

Good luck! gwp1948
 
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My Computer

when trying to back up files on vista prem I get the following message:catastrophic failure 0x8000FFFF. What could be wrong and in simple terms can anyone tell me how to correct this? Then it says something like, "unable to back up files".My computer is about 6 months old. This really bums me out.

Could come from the Volume Shadow Copy (DCOM/VSS)
I have to look at some datas and will let you know.

EDIT:
Well it looks like some files are corrupted.
Try sfc /scannow
If doesn't work, an event log will tell more and have a look too in the reliability monitor and the according log file.
 
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My Computer

I have also been having the same problem and followed people's suggestions without success.

It is worth noting that the instructions say you cannot back up to the same location. So backing up C drive to C: is not permissible. Once I changed to a different location from the default (I used the public area folder) it did not produce this problem.

I hope this is of use to anyone else out there who is getting frustrated.
 

My Computer

I tried going step by step through GWP1948's list, but after each step I tried doing the backup again.

Lo and behold, it didn't work until I did a successful chkdsk. It wasn't easy but I finally forced a chkdsk by setting up the chkdsk, then going into msconfig, and selecting a safe reboot. After I rebooted, the chkdsk finally ran.

Then when I did the backup, it was successful.

Thank you, GWP1948, for writing all the steps you took, not knowing which one worked.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    LENOVO/6476CTO
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
    Memory
    3062MB RAM
I had the same problem but managed to get it fixed by doing this:
1) Restart your computer
2) Press F8 before the Windows logo appears
3) Select Repair your computer and press Enter
4) Select Repair Startup Problems and press Enter
5) Once the process is completed, restart you computer
6) On Command Prompt Elevated Mode (Run as Administrator) type chkdsk to see if the problem has been fixed.

Please let me know if this worked for you.
 

My Computer

Wish it had worked, but didn't. The computer told me at step 4 that there were no problems, though it still won't back up. Not sure what to do next. Do you think trying to save it to some other place would help? Carol M
 

My Computer

Because your computer is only 6 mo old, I'm not in the same boat as you; however, I just received this error message and I know why. My laptop is 1 1/2 years old and my motherboard fried. Because it's still under warranty, they sent it out for repair. I bought an external HD to back-up everything before it fried and was able to do so. When they replaced the motherboard, they did not reimage the computer (Format it). So in my case, the new motherboard was trying to drive at the same time my old OS was trying to drive but they can't communicate to eachother. So in my case, I have to install the OS again so they can once again coordinate.

That is what the tech told me I had to do.
 

My Computer

=MrScoresby;1086475]I had the same problem but managed to get it fixed by doing this:
1) Restart your computer
2) Press F8 before the Windows logo appears
3) Select Repair your computer and press Enter
4) Select Repair Startup Problems and press Enter
5) Once the process is completed, restart you computer
6) On Command Prompt Elevated Mode (Run as Administrator) type chkdsk to see if the problem has been fixed.

Please let me know if this worked for you.

Yes it did! Thanks VERY much~~:)
 

My Computer

when trying to back up files on vista prem I get the following message:catastrophic failure 0x8000FFFF. What could be wrong and in simple terms can anyone tell me how to correct this?
Thank you
D.

My solution to this was to fix 2 problems. 1) Make sure that the "Volume Shadow Copy" service is enabled and running: Right click on Computer in the start menu and choose Manage. In the left pane, expand Services and Applications. Click on Services. Scroll down to find "Volume Shadow Copy". It should have a status of Started and a startup type of Automatic. If not, you need to enable it: Right click on the service "Volume Shadow Copy" and click Properties. Change statup type to Started and then click Apply. After clicking Apply, click Start. 2) Check your targeted volume for errors: Right click Start, Right click on the appropriate volume, Click on properties, Click on Tools, Click the Check Now button, Check the "Automatically fix file system errors" Click Start When that is complete go back and try backing up again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    hp Compaq Presario
    CPU
    dual core 2x0.8 Ghz
    Memory
    2Gb
1) Go to services.msc.
2) Make sure that Volume shadow copy service is Started and automatic.
3) Restart the computer.
4) Delete the temporary folders.
5) Cross your fingers and check whether it works.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1525
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