Retrospect 12.x Cannot Backup System State

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Can somebody help me resolve my recent problem with Retrospect not backing up the system state?  Read on for more details about this problem.

Just recently, Retrospect 12.x for Windows on my laptop PC will no longer backup the System State.  Instead, I get the following error messages in the Retrospect logfile:

     12/30/2017 02:48:51: Copying UEFI System Partition
     [*] doCopyESPToDirectory: could not export BCD to State folder, sys_err=1, osErrNo=0
     [*] WinXPMetaLoc::XPMdStoreESP: CopyESPToDirectory failed, err = -1,001
     Can't back up System State, error -1001 (unknown Windows OS error)

I am currently running "Retrospect 12.6.1.101 for Windows" [Release date November 13, 2017] on my HP Envy 17" laptop.

The only thing that I did recently on that laptop was to upgrade its BIOS using HP's latest BIOS upgrade pack for that particular laptop.  Prior to this BIOS update, Retrospect was able to backup the System State successfully.  Then, about a month passed during which several things changed/updated on my laptop, but the only one that I can think might have a bearing on this problem is that BIOS update. 

Prior to that recent BIOS update, I was running this version of the BIOS as reported by Windows System Information:

        BIOS Version/Date    Insyde F.35, 03/03/2016     
        SMBIOS Version        2.8    
        Embedded Controller Version   64.36
        BIOS Mode        UEFI

After that BIOS update, I am now running this latest BIOS version as reported by Windows System Information:

        BIOS Version/Date:    Insyde F.46, 10/27/2017
        SMBIOS Version:        2.8
        Embedded Controller Version 64.40
        BIOS Mode:        UEFI

I've tried various ways around the problem of Retrospect not being able to backup the system state but nothing has worked so far.  I've run Retrospect "AS ADMINISTRATOR" and still get the same error messages.  I've made sure Retrospect is upgraded to the latest available version.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Tony

[Scillonian]

Hi Tony

Quote

     Can't back up System State, error -1001 (unknown Windows OS error)

This line is telling the user that Retrospect is trying to backup the System State but the underlying Windows function that is called is returning an error condition to Retrospect that Retrospect dose not understand.

Quote

     12/30/2017 02:48:51: Copying UEFI System Partition
     [*] doCopyESPToDirectory: could not export BCD to State folder, sys_err=1, osErrNo=0
     [*] WinXPMetaLoc::XPMdStoreESP: CopyESPToDirectory failed, err = -1,001

This would indicate to me that there is some problem with the 'EFI System Partition' which isalso referred to as the ESP. The ESP is a small hidden partition ~128 MB in size which contains the files necessary to boot an operating system on a device with UEFI firmware.

A good place to check first for what the problem may be with the ESP is the 'Event Viewer' in Windows. Look for any error or warning events at the same time as Retrospect reported the error. Initially look for errors/warnings where the 'Source' is VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) as this is the Windows feature that provides the System State data.

EDIT: What version of Windows are you running?

Edited December 30, 2017 by Scillonian
Added question about version of Windows in use.