Veeam Support Knowledge Base
Guest OS File Restore Fails on Self-Referencing Junction Points

Guest OS File Restore Fails on Self-Referencing Junction Points

KB ID:	4672
Product:	Veeam Backup & Replication \| 12 \| 12.1 \| 12.2 Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows \| 6.0 \| 6.1 \| 6.2
Published:	2024-10-11
Last Modified:	2024-10-11

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Challenge

Using Guest OS File Restore to restore a folder containing a junction point that redirects back to the initial folder fails with the error:

Win32 error:The name of the file cannot be resolved by the system.  Code: 1921

For example, attempting to restore a user's AppData folder the restore will fail with:

Failed to restore "\\?\C:\Users\backupsvc_RESTORED_20241010_135355\AppData\Local\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data": Failed to start folder iteration. Win32 error:The name of the file cannot be resolved by the system.  Code: 1921

Cause

This occurs because Guest OS File Restore does not restore junction points; it attempts to restore the actual content of the junction point.

As documented in the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide:

Veeam Backup & Replication restores junction points as folders with the content they refer to. If a junction point refers to the folder in which it lies or to the parent folder, restore will fail.

The Windows OS (desktop and server) includes such a junction point that will cause the error shown in the example. Within the folder C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local is a junction point named 'Application Data', which is a junction back to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local, creating a self-referential loop.

Solution

To workaround this issue, when performing Guest OS Files Restore, you must carefully select which folders to restore, avoiding selecting the junction point(s) that create a loop.

More Information

The following two self-referential junction points are known to exist in Windows desktop and server operating systems:

[C:\ProgramData\Application Data] -> [C:\ProgramData]
[C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Application Data] -> [C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local]

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