A significant issue has surfaced for users of Windows 11 24H2, particularly affecting those utilizing Veeam’s backup solutions. The problem, traced back to Microsoft’s February update (KB5051987), disrupts the connection between Veeam Recovery Media and backup servers, thereby hindering critical data recovery operations.
Understanding the Connection Failure
The issue predominantly impacts systems operating on Windows 11 24H2 (build 26100.3194 or later). Users attempting to restore data via Veeam Backup & Replication using Veeam Recovery Media encounter a series of network connection errors. These errors include messages such as “Failed to establish connection: no valid IP addresses were found,” “Unable to establish an authenticated client-server connection,” and “A call to SSPI failed, see inner exception.” Additionally, attempts to recover data from SMB network shares result in the error: “The remote procedure call failed and did not execute.” These issues critically impede data restoration efforts during essential recovery operations.
Root Cause Analysis
The underlying cause appears to be linked to modifications introduced in the KB5051987 February update for Windows 11 24H2. While both Microsoft and Veeam are actively investigating the precise technical mechanisms, the problem seems to affect the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), which serves as the foundation for Veeam Recovery Media. Notably, despite these disruptions, affected systems can still establish basic network connectivity. Users have reported the ability to ping both the name and IP address of their Veeam backup servers from the recovery environment’s command prompt. However, the Veeam recovery application itself fails to establish a proper connection, indicating a deeper compatibility issue introduced by the recent Windows update.
Implications for Organizations
This disruption poses a significant challenge for the over 550,000 organizations worldwide that rely on Veeam for their backup and recovery solutions. For enterprises dependent on timely data restoration capabilities, this issue represents a serious risk to disaster recovery plans and compliance requirements. The inability to perform data recovery operations can lead to prolonged downtime, potential data loss, and non-compliance with regulatory standards, all of which can have substantial financial and reputational repercussions.
Challenges in Troubleshooting
IT administrators have attempted various troubleshooting methods to resolve the issue, including using different network adapters, configuring static IP addresses, and adjusting secure boot settings. Unfortunately, these traditional approaches have not been successful in mitigating the connection problems. The persistence of the issue despite these efforts underscores the complexity of the problem and the need for a coordinated resolution from both Microsoft and Veeam.
Recommended Workaround
As a temporary solution, Veeam advises customers to use Recovery Media generated on systems running older Windows 11 builds (26100.3037 or earlier). This workaround is based on observations that recovery media created on machines with earlier Windows 11 versions do not exhibit the connection problems introduced by the KB5051987 update. It’s important to note that while recovery media created on one system can be used on another, proprietary drivers such as those for network, WLAN, and RAID controllers may not be present if the hardware configurations differ. Therefore, administrators should ensure that the recovery media includes all necessary drivers for the target system to facilitate a successful recovery process.
Ongoing Investigations and Future Steps
Both Veeam and Microsoft have confirmed that they are jointly investigating the issue to identify the root cause and develop a permanent solution. Organizations planning recovery operations with Veeam in a Windows 11 environment are advised to create recovery media on computers running Windows 11 builds earlier than 26100.3194 until a permanent fix is available. System administrators should closely monitor Veeam’s official communications for updates on the resolution of this critical issue. Staying informed and prepared will be key to mitigating the impact of this disruption on business continuity and data protection strategies.
