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VSS Backup SQLWriter failure

I have a Windows 2008 SP2 server that is running a DotnetNuke website with a SQLExpress 2005 database. Here is the conneciton string in the web.config file...

connectionstring="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;" providername="System.Data.SQLClient"

This server is a Virtual Server on a Windows 2008R2 Hyper-V host. When I try to run a backup of the VM from the host, I get a VSS error related to the DotNetNuke server.

When I examine the event logs on the DotNetNuke server, I see Event ID 24583, Source SQLWriter, with an error message stating "Error Message: Unable to open the physical file 'c:\websites\dotnetnuke\app_data\datebase.mdf'. Operating system error 3 '3(the system cannot find the file specified)'"

The reason it can't find the file specified is because it is not in that location. The base DotnetNuke install created the path and placed the database.mdf file there originally but I later renamed the folder to "C:\Websites\LSSCSupport". The site has been running for months but this problem just started happening because we are now using a different backup process. I don't want to rename the folder back to DotNetNuke because it is now referenced in a lot of locations within the project.

I can't tell where the SQLWriter is getting the old path "C:\Websites\DotnetNuke" so that I can correct it.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dave

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denbosse

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dcadler

ASKER

When I opened SQL Management Studio, the database was not listed on the SQLExpress instance. The only databasees were the System databases. I attached the correct Database but this dod not change the reference to the incorrect reference of C:\Websites\DotnetNuke. The problem continues to occur. I can run a database backup from the SQL Management Studio of the valid database with no problem. However, when I try to do a VSS backup from the Hyper-V Host, it fails pinpointing the fact that it can't find the file C:\Websites\DotnetNuke

denbosse

What output do you get for the following query against the master database:
select * from sysdatabases

Do you maybe have another SQL server instance running? How many Windows services do you see starting with the words "SQL Server"? Do you have a "Windows Internal Database" service?

dcadler

ASKER

I ran th query against the master database and did not see a reference to the incorrect path. I decided yo uninstall SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express and then re-install just SQL Server Express. When I did, I couldn't get the VSS backup to run because SQL Server Express 2005 did not have he SQLWriter as part of it's install. I installed the SQLWriter using the SQLWriter.msi on the SQL Server 2005 CD and then when I ran the VSS Backup, it still listed the Event ID 24583, Source SQLWriter, with an error message stating "Error Message: Unable to open the physical file 'c:\websites\dotnetnuke\app_data\datebase.mdf'. Operating system error 3 '3(the system cannot find the file specified)'"

Where would SQL Server keep references to databases besides the registry?

dcadler

ASKER

What I ended up doing was completely uninstalling al instances of SQL server, stopping the service and deleting the SQL Server folders. After rebooting, I re-installed SQL Server 2005, attached the database file for my web applicaiotn and the VSS Backup started working.