7 Methods to Fix Backup Location Could Not Be Found

The Scenario

When you try to backup system state with Windows Server Backup or Wbadmin command on Windows Server 2003/2008/2011/2012(R2)/2016(R2)/2019 or SBS 2003/2008/2011, you may receive the following error message:

"The specified backup location could not be found or is not a supported backup storage location."

How it comes and how to resolve it? Please read on.

Causes for invalid backup location

There are many reasons that can cause the problem that the specified backup storage location is invalid:

• Insufficient space on the specified drive.

• Incorrect Wbadmin command.

• Bad sectors.

• Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) failure.

• Incompatible programs.

Solutions to “the specified backup disk cannot be found”

It is hard to find which reason that caused this error, so you may try one or more methods to fix this error.

▶ Fix 1. If the destination drive which has to be NTFS format has no sufficient space, you can delete files using Disk Cleanup with your user account. You can also check if you have permission to write on the drive. If the drive is Read Only, you can reconnect the drive or run the system state backup from the command line.

▶ Fix 2. If you receive the error when starting system state backup using Wbadmin command, please check whether the command you entered is correct. Windows does not support the syntax specifying a folder as backup target, and you will get this error if the command used includes the folder name. You do not need to exclude the local destination partition to store the system state backup, because it will be automatically excluded. Syntax to start system state backup:

Wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backupTarget: [-quiet]

Example: Wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backupTarget:f:

▶ Fix 3. Check bad sectors on your disk. Right click on “Start” and select “Command Prompt (Admin)”. In the pop-up Command Prompt window, type in the command “chkdsk /p” and press enter to scan the disk. Then type “chkdsk c: /f /r” and press Enter. “/f” means to fix errors on the disk and “/r” means to locate bad sectors and recover readable information.

▶ Fix 4. Check if VSS is enabled and running smooth. In an elevated Command Prompt, type “vssadmin list writers” and press enter. Then you will see all writers registered with VSS.

▶ Fix 5. Some software you installed on your computer may lead to a conflict with system state backup. ManageEngine AssetExplorer is one of the software known that might cause this issue. In this case, you may boot your computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt to start system state backup. Or you can just uninstall the program and run the backup again.

▶ Fix 6. Share your target drive as a network drive and select the network drive as your backup destination location.

▶ Fix 7. Use another program for backup. If you still cannot fix the error that the specified backup location could not be found after trying all these steps above, you can use the best Windows Server backup software - AOMEI Backupper Server instead. Following are its main interface and key features:

• Backup to any location path as long as it is accessible in Windows, no matter the partition is formatted with NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, EXT2, EXT3 or other file systems.

• Restore system/disk backup between GPT and MBR disk or even restore to dissimilar hardware.

• Offer System Clone and Disk Clone to upgrade HDD to SSD.

• Perform offline restore via bootable rescue media or AOMEI PXE Boot Tool. 

• Run smoothly on all editions of Windows Server 2003/2008/2011/2012(R2)/2016(R2)/2019, SBS 2003/2008/2011, and Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, which can meet both Windows PC and Server users’ needs.

Verdict

You may fix the error “The specified backup location could not be found or is not a supported backup storage location” with 7 solutions offered in this article. If you are disappointed by Windows Server Backup or Wbadmin command, you can turn to AOMEI Backupper. It breaks Windows Server Backup limitations and provides easy steps. Explore all the wonderful features of AOMEI Backupper right now!