hopeful

Just to follow up on my recent post. After trying many procedures some of which I mention in the last post, I read that deleting all the files in the Ntmsdata folder (in windows/system 32/ntmsdata) could help so I copied them over to a flash drive just in case and did so. Then got the removable storage service to start and then backup came up, the ntmsdata folder was automatically repopulated. Easy solution that worked . Was only possible to track after I finally got error messages today that problem was probably caused by malfunction of the removable storage service. Good to have a good working system. Always worry that if one item is bad it could trigger other problems. But thank you for the opportunity to post. Hopefully I will never need to come back but at least I found your site because of my problems.

Last week the backup on my system started not working. System is XP Pro SP3. Backup is coming up (I can see in task manager and icon placed in start), get an hour glass for a few seconds and then nothing. I get a backup utility popup that stays on and only goes away when the system is shut down. Once I got a message that briefly said something to the effect that it was looking for storage device or something to that effect -- it blinked off before I could write down--. Before shutdown the system tries to end the program but cannot so have to use end now to close it in order to shut down machine. I have done an sfc \scannow but problem continues. Going to ctrl panel-administrative tools-computer management (local)-storage cannot get a list of the removable storage by clicking on the + to left--just keeps trying and can only stop the search by going to the task manager. However I can use all my storage facilities (USB, hard drive, cd/dvd-r, cd r/w) -- both read and write, ok. They are also listed when I check system information. Only for backup am I having a problem. Looked at removal storage properties by going to control panel-admin tools-computer management--Services-and found removable storage in list. Under general tab, startup choice is manual, and service status is stopped. Under the general tab,I tried to change service status to start and windows attempts to do so but cannot and it reverts to stop. Under the logon tab there is a check next to local system account and further down under hardware profile-- profile 1 is enabled, under the recovery tab no actions are set, and finally under the dependencies tab is stated that the service depends on the Remote Protection Call (RPC) component. I am not 100% sure this is the cause of the backup failure but seems to be from all indicators I have seen so far. Does anyone have any suggestions on what else I can try to get backup working? Thank you.

I did choose the first and last options as well as burn to CD. Nothing you mention worked for my setup. I was able to create an installation cd with SP3 integrated using instructions I got from another site. It works well. Finding this msfn site helped since it alerted me to the fact that this was possible and I now have a working installation cd. Thanks for your help.

Thank you for your quick and informative response. I was going to put query in nLite forum but did have other queries related to the main issue--running a sfc scannow so opted for XP. In task selection I specified service pack and also the cd as the place to burn the bootable ISO disk when asked, so it may be that my original installation disk is too old for creating a bootable disk in nLite. The process went ok to a point as far as I can tell since the folder with the old files came up as an SP3 installation folder after the process--I just could not get a bootable cd. When it did not boot, I clicked on it and it opens up as a Roxio type folder. I may try putting this in the nLite folder since at some point it would be good, if at all possible to get a bootable cd with SP3. Will insert my new SP3 disk in the old machine and try to do an sfc scannow using it.

Hello, I am new to this forum. I am using XP Prof SP3 and was an original XP Pro user so my installation disk on the machine that has the problem just says MS Windows XP Prof (no SP on label). Computer is from 2001 so SP3 was via an update from MS. Last week the system backup feature stopped working. It is there and when I shut down windows tries to end the backup program if I tried to access it (start, accessories, system, backup) or by using the run or a dos command. But I just cannot get it to open, so I think it has been corrupted in some way. That is how I got to this forum. I could not run a sfc scannow with my old installation disk since I had SP3 on my machine. Via google I saw a lot about nlite and thought I would try it by downloading MS SP3 on my c drive, copying over my installation disk into a folder, slipstreaming using the downloaded nLite and all went well except that the cd (cd-r) created (formatted via Roxio 5 basic) just did not boot. When i click it comes up in a Roxio format for recordable cds and there may be something I can do at that point to make it bootable but I do not know what. I use the copy or drag feature for data and text files etc. not for recording music etc. I am sure there must be a way to fix it but after many hours I gave up. Moreover when I tried to reinsert my original installation cd to redo the entire process in case there was a slip anywhere (there were no errors given however), it would not boot up. I got scared and did a system restore so at least now I still only have the original no backup problem to contend with as far as I can tell. Original installation cd back to working ok. My first queries are: Should I have used an earlier version of nLite to create the SP3 boot disk for this machine? Is it that the newer versions are more geared to vista and 7 than XP? Or is there a way to 'fix' the bootable cd so it works like an SP3 installation cd? If so then I can use it to run a sfc scannow. My second question is this. I have a little over a year old laptop which came with XP Pro SP3 on it and I have an installation disk for that. Can I use that on my older machine to do a sfc scannow or will that cause problems. Both machines are via Dell. I am not sure how specific the cds are to the machines -with all the updates we get I would think it should be okay but wanted to check if anyone knew since I do not want to cause more problems than I already have. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.