Backup Failed Edit Connection Settings Messages

I want to provide an update on this issue.  My wife's PC had the problem again yesterday and used MVP Log Viewer to see if anything was written to the log.  I found the following messages:

2020-06-19T14:00:01:896-05:00 21308 I00640086: Execution of user command succeeded: C:/Users/dgiba/Documents/NasCheck.bat
2020-06-19T14:01:08:512-05:00 21308 E000B042B: Error 0xb042b: The network share is inaccessible.
2020-06-19T14:01:09:626-05:00 21308 E013C0005: Error 0x13c0005: Operation has completed with errors.

The user command NasCheck.bat is code that Steve Smith uses to check if his NAS is available prior to the backup running.  The command verifies the NAS can be reached, but a minute later the network share is inaccessible.

I also found a KB article that mentioned a registry key that stores the NAS authentication username and encrypted password and a file in ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts that should have the same information.  If they don't match, it could cause authentication verification.  They match on my wife's PC and my PC.

I found a post with the error 0xb042b where the person created a username and password with admin privileges to be used for ATI only, and it fixed his problem.  He previously used the admin username and password, which is what I have been using.  I will investigate creating a username and password for ATI on my Synology NAS.  If it fixes my problem, I'll update again.

Gary, what commands does your NasCheck.bat have that wakes up your Synology NAS?

Are you mapping any Windows drive letters to the NAS?

I have not had any issues with any of my own backups going to my Synology DS214j NAS using a mix of ethernet and wireless for different computers (desktop PC's only have wired connections, and my laptops all use wireless).

The script that I have been using more often when wanting to ensure that I was on the same network as my NAS, i.e. not travelling / away from home, is:

:: File Name = CheckIP.Bat
@echo off
:: ---------------------------------------------------------
:: ----- The baseIP = NAS IP address to be checked for -----
:: ---------------------------------------------------------

set baseIP=192.168.0.29
set loopcount=20

:: Checking for active baseIP address on local network
:: errorlevel 0 = IP found / 1 = IP not found.

:loop
echo pinging %baseIP% for %loopcount% times
ping -n 1 -l 1 %baseIP% > nul
if %errorlevel%==1 goto next
@echo %baseIP% found active on network!
timeout /t 10
exit /b 0
:next
@echo %baseIP% not found active on network!
set /a loopcount=loopcount-1
if %loopcount%==0 goto exitloop
timeout /t 10
goto loop
:exitloop
if %errorlevel%==1 exit /b 1
exit /b 0

I do not map any Windows drive letters to my NAS and use a dedicated 'Acronis' user on the NAS for all ATI backup activities which does not match any Windows user profile.

Steve,

I use the same commands as you use except the NAS IP is for my NAS and I have a : pause statement at the end.

I'm not mapping any drive letters for the network shares for the Acronis backups, but I'm mapping a drive letter to a share used for video folders/files on that NAS.

Do you use the same dedicated 'Acronis" user for all the Acronis network shares or did you set up one for each share?  I have a network share for the differential backup of my PC and one for the differential backup of my wife's PC.  Any info on setting up the dedicated user would be appreciated.  Did you add it to the default admin group?  Thanks.

Gary, when I first got the NAS I created my dedicated Acronis user and this is a member of the administrators group.  I also created a 'Backup' shared folder as the root for when the backups from all my different PC's are stored in their own named folders.  The Backup shared folder permissions only allow the Acronis user & Admin to have read/write access.

Note: ref the bat file, the : pause at the end of the file is just a comment left over from testing as comes after an exit statement, so never would be executed.

Steve,

I tried to setup my NAS similar to the way I believe you have yours configured.  I created network share Acronis_Backups and created folders ASUS Differential and Dell Differential.  I had no problems creating the backup for the ASUS Differential, but when attempted to create the Dell Differential backup I received an error message, which I don't recall, so I deleted everything and created a network share for the ASUS and one for the Dell.

Thanks for your help.

GaryG45 wrote:

I'm not mapping any drive letters for the network shares for the Acronis backups, but I'm mapping a drive letter to a share used for video folders/files on that NAS.

Could you clarify that a bit?  These are two separate shares on the same NAS?  Are they accessed by the same set of credentials? 

This is probably not your problem (because I'm pretty sure it would result in a different error message), but here's something to consider:

Windows has a limit of one set of credentials for each combination of local-user / remote NAS.  You will probably be OK if the mapped share gets mapped only for real users and not for the system userid "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM".  The ATI backups run under that systen userid so if it somehow gets an SMB connection to the mapped share its access to the backup's share will be blocked.   

You can verify this by opening the Windows PowerShell window with elevated authority (i.e., "Run as administrator") and run the command "Get-SMBConnection".  It will show the userids (but not the passwords) used with open SMB connections.  Comparing the display immediately following a failure and during a successful backup might be informative.

Patrick,

My Synology NAS has the following shares:

acronis_asus_diff, acronis_dell_diff, acronis_hp_backups, Gibs_Media, PhotoShop, and Quicken Backups.

I have mapped drive letter V to Gibs_Media and the remaining shares are not mapped.  I executed the Get-SMBConnection command on my ASUS PC.  For share acronis_asus_diff it shows a username of NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM and Credential of Ds918\the admin username.  For Gibs_Media the username is Garys-ASUS\Gary and Credentials of MicrosoftAccount\my email address.

The next time I have a failure I'll try the Get-SMBConnection command.

I gather that the shares acronis_asus_diff, acronis_dell_diff, acronis_hp_backups are accessed from 3 different computers so each computer would access just one of them.

The only problem that I can see would be if you somehow got a connection to the wrong share using NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.  That's probably not your problem.

Patrick,

You are correct.  Each Acronis share is accessed by a different computer.

Steve,

I've created a dedicated Acronis user that is a member of the admin group on my Synology NAS, but I haven't found an easy way to start using that user for the backups.  The options I'm aware of are to wait for the "edit connection" message to occur then change the authentication credentials or create new backups using the Acronis user when authentication credentials are requested during the setup.  I believe I can change permissions so the admin user has no access, which would probably force the "edit connection" message.  Are you aware of anything else I can do to change the network share authentication to the dedicated Acronis user?

You mentioned that you have "Backup" share that has folders for each backup.  I think this didn't work for me because I had mapped the "Backup" share to a drive letter.  I'm not certain that was the case, but I feel that is what I did.

Gary, one way that I have found that would allow you to edit your NAS credentials is by clicking on the Destination panel, then selecting a higher level folder on the same NAS, which for me then enables the [Edit credentials] button on that page.

See the images below taken from one of my NAS backups where the first image does not allow me to edit the current credentials for the task, but after switching to the parent folder, the button is then enabled.

I'm able to get the Edit Connection option as you show, but when I enter the Acronis username and password and test the connection, I get Connection failed.  If I create a new backup that will use a new network share, acronis_asus_test, the connection is made when I use the Acronis username and password.  

I know Acronis keeps the username and password in the registry and in a file in one of it's folders.  I'm guessing that Acronis doesn't permit the username and password to be changed, but it could be Windows preventing it.  It appears that if I want to use the dedicated Acronis username and password I'll have to either delete the registry key or create new backups.  

Gary, see KB 58004 for where the credentials are stored in the registry.

Steve Smith wrote:

Gary, see KB 58004 for where the credentials are stored in the registry.

One thing in that article is either out of date, incomplete, or inaccurate.

Issue: "Enter your Windows credentials" prompt is shown when accessing the NAS as mounted network drive in Windows.

Symptoms: you have a folder from NAS mounted as a network drive in Windows Explorer. There are no backups, configured to use this network location yet. You open Browse dialog box in Acronis, expand "Computer" section and select mounted network drive. You are not asked for credentials at this point and are allowed to click "OK" button. Then when you want to save your changes and click on "Backup now" or "Later", you are asked to enter "Windows credentials" as shown below:

...

Solution: type in your NAS credentials. Do not enter your Windows credentials.

That may still be true , but it is not the only reason you could get  "Enter your Windows credentials", and sometimes ATI (or maybe Windows) really wants your Windows credentials.  One case I've run into many times is when creating or changing a task whose destination is on a NAS and whose definition contains a pre/post command.  When the new or changed task is being saved ATI will ask for the Windows credentials ... and actually wants the Windows credentials.  This may be caused by something peculiar to my configuration, but happens on multiple computers and with both ATI 2019 and 2020.

Patrick,

I've had similar behavior.  Destination is a NAS and the backup contains a pre command.  When I've changed the scheduled time and the "Run at startup" time, it has requested the Windows credentials.

Steve,

I haven't received the "Edit Connection" message on my PC or my wife's PC for the past two days.  I also created an "Acronis Backups" network share and was able to create a couple of test backups to subfolders of the share.  I can only guess it failed previously because I had mapped the share.  I think I'm going to reorganize my backups and use a dedicated Acronis username and password for them.