Cohesity restore task fails with error: "A general system error occurred: vix error codes = (3004, 0)"

Products

• VMware
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Cohesity File based restore fails with Error: A general system error occurred: vix error codes = (3004, 0)

Cohesity Agent Logs

Jan 21,2020 9:55am Adding restore task to partition queue for being scheduled
Jan 21,2020 9:55am Locating VM XXXX with MORef [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine] and UUID 50237c1f-####-####-####-##########b2
Jan 21,2020 9:55am VMware tools version status Current
Jan 21,2020 9:55am Creating temporary directory in VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:55am Created directory C:\Users\ADMINISTRATOR\AppData\Local\Temp\Cohesityvmware164414054 in VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:55am Pushing utility file /home/cohesity/software/crux/bin/agents/windows//volumes_util.exe into the VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:55am Pushing utility file /home/cohesity/software/crux/bin/agents/windows//restoreFilesUtil.exe into the VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Cloning VMs files to destination view cohesity_int_414054_f411
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Successfully cloned VM files
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Including virtual disk (faf173eb1afbe037cdbc2d40d94da#######ccde-XXXX_1.vmdk, 2001) : [ZZZ_3par1_vd14] XXXX/XXXX_1.vmdk for attaching to VM
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Fetching host information for [item: host-248110, type: HostSystem]
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Mounting datastore /DefaultIddViewBox/cohesity_int_414054_f411/fs from YYYY on host [item: host-248110, type: HostSystem]
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Fetching VM disk device info
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Attaching cloned virtual disks to VM
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Cloned virtual disks successfully attached to the VM
Jan 21,2020 9:56am Pushing restore util args file into the VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:57am Starting restore utility in VM [item: vm-322, type: VirtualMachine]
Jan 21,2020 9:59am Encountered error: [kVSphereError]: Error while starting restore utility : SOAP 1.1 fault: "":ServerFaultCode[no subcode] "A general system error occurred: vix error codes = (3004, 0). " Detail:, begin cleanup
Jan 21,2020 9:59am Teardown: Proceeding to detach the virtual disks
Jan 21,2020 9:59am Detaching cloned virtual disks from the VM
Jan 21,2020 10:00am Unmounting datastore [item: datastore-446156, type: Datastore] on [item: datastoreSystem-248110, type: HostDatastoreSystem]
Jan 21,2020 10:00am Restore task failed with error: [kVSphereError]: Error while starting restore utility : SOAP 1.1 fault: "":ServerFaultCode[no subcode] "A general system error occurred: vix error codes = (3004, 0). " Detail:

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

VMware Tools (Vmtoolsd.exe) is attempting to run restorefilesutil agent which is failing.

For example, please refer below screenshots  : 


Restore Util (Path: <Installation Directory>:\Program Files\Cohesity\restorefileutil.exe) is blocked by the Anti Virus software

Resolution

Engage the security application team to configure an exception for the executable file (restorefileutil.exe)

Additional Information

Error: 3004 – VIX_E_PROGRAM_NOT_STARTED ('3004' error is returned when the file that is being executed is of size 0 bytes. A program could not run on the guest operating system.)