Error - The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The purpose of this article is to provide a workaround to fix the backup issue on the servers with VMware Tools 10.1.x.

Symptoms:

• Windows system backup failed when VMware Tools 10.1.0 is installed.
• When a windows system state backup attempts to run, you see the following error:
  
  Error in backup of C:\windows\\systemroot\ during enumerate:Error [0x8007007b] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
   

 

 

 

Cause

The problem is with the vsock driver imagepath on 2012, 2012 R2, and 2016 servers.

Resolution

This issue is fixed in VMware Tools 10.2.5.

Workaround:

To workaround this issue:   Download the 2149178_SetVsockRegistryImagePath.zip attached to this knowledge Base article and extract it. Download latest VMware PowerCLI from Broadcom. Note:: This script has been tested with VMware-PowerCLI-6.5.0-4624819.exe.   Run VMware PowerCLI installer exe as admin to install the VMware PowerCLI. Open a command box in admin account and type C:\WINDOWS\system32>powershell Windows PowerShell Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> exit You can close this command box now. Save SetVsockRegistryImagePath.ps1 script to a file. Example: C:\Tool\SetVsockRegistryImagePath.ps1. Set the vCenter Server or ESXi server name/IP, admin user name and password. Select one or all Windows virtual machines to change vsock registry image path. Set Windows guest admin user name and password. On Windows desktop, find VMware PowerCLI icon (use 64 bit version on 64 bit Windows) and launch PowerCLI shell. Run SetVsockRegistryImagePath.ps1 script from PowerCLI shell as shown below: PowerCLI C:\> C:\Tool\SetVsockRegistryImagePath.ps1

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
Unable to take windows based backup.