connecting to guest os via vix failed.

[Kas_Tigar]

Hi. I am new to veeam and have a strange issue. Trying to go with guest processing with Windows Server 2012 or 2008 VM, I am getting the follow:
- connecting to guest os via RPC successful
- connecting to guest os via vix failed. Failed to open VM (datatore/vmx file). VIX Error: there was an error in communication code 14010

I do not understand what the problem is.
Please help.
Thanks!

[Shestakov]

Hi,
According to the error code, looks like you have a problem with a name resolution. Have you tried a relevant VMware KB?
If it doesn`t work, please contact Veeam technical support.
Thanks.

[Kas_Tigar]

Ok, thanks! I will check this.

[Shestakov]

Let me know if it works. Otherwise, please provide your support case number once you contact the support team.
Thanks.

[MAA]

I also have this issue.

:: Connecting to guest OS via VIX, user DOMAIN\veeam Error: Cannot connect to host [a.b.c.d] over VIX. Login: [DOMAIN\veeam]. Guest Login: [DOMAIN\veeam].
Failed to login to VM: [[datastore] server01/server01.vmx]. User: [DOMAIN\veeam].
VIX Error: Authentication failure or insufficient permissions in guest operating system Code: 3015

(DOMAIN\veeam is Domain Admin and vCenter Admin)

[foggy]

Check whether credentials are entered correctly and contact technical support.

[dellock6]

Be careful about which credentials you use: this mode has a limitation that "classic" mode (network-based) doesn't have: you either need to disable UAC or use exactly the "well-known" administrator accounts (.\ADMINISTRATOR or DOMAIN\ADMINISTRATOR). Other administrative credentials that are not exactly "ADMINISTRATOR" will fail, even if they are domain admins. Since DOMAIN\veeam is none of these users, I suspect UAC is enabled.

[muisesa]

Just curious if there was ever a solution posted for this error... I am also receiving:

- connecting to guest os via RPC successful
- connecting to guest os via vix failed. Failed to open VM (datatore/vmx file). VIX Error: there was an error in communication code 14010

Thanks for the help...

[foggy]

Do you have UAC enabled on the affected VMs? What credentials do you specify for the guest processing (please see Luca's answer above)?

[kewnev]

Just curious if there was ever a solution posted for this error... I am also receiving:

- connecting to guest os via RPC successful
- connecting to guest os via vix failed. Failed to open VM (datatore/vmx file). VIX Error: there was an error in communication code 14010

Thanks for the help...

I recently came across this when moving our environment from Hyper-V to VMware, and if your situation is the same as ours the error only appears when executing the "Test Now" button under the Backup Job -> Guest Processing.
In your case, the VIX error you shouldn't need to worry about (assuming you don't have any guests that are "networkless").
You see, when Veeam performs a backup it will first try to connect with RPC. Only if RPC fails will it try with VIX.
As you can see in your above log extract RPC succeeds. Hence you can ignore the VIX error, and there is no need to disable UAC in the guest or to back up as the actual "administrator" login. The backup will work without warnings or errors (well it has for us).

To remove this confusion I think Veeam should not attempt VIX testing if RPC testing succeeds (ie when "Test Now" is executed).

[ita-tomi]

Only time you need VIX is if you have to backup VM with AppAware and there is no network connection from Veeam server to the VM. In those situations one needs to choose least bad option:
- Open access trough network
- Use Administrator account for backup job credentials
- Disable UAC
- Disable AppAware

[Andreas Neufert]

There are 2 ways to speak with the VM for InGuest processing.
RPC - The typical Windows way over the network.
VIX - Veeam connects to the ESXi hosts and opens a network less connection to the VM by using the VIX communication channel of the VMware Tools.

RPC is faster than VIX.
Veeam tries first to connect by RPC and fallback to VIX.

So if you can connect by RPC there is no need to fix the VIX connection.

To allow VIX to work you need several things:
- Actual VMware Tools installed within the VM.
- VM is running
- VIX is enabled within VMware Tools and ESXi (this is by default the case).
- DNS resolution needs to work correctly with the ESXi VMKernel interfaces (VMKernel Hostname and Domain settings needs to be inline with DNS).

For authentication within the VM you need one of the following.
a) Disabled UAC and a account that is somehow member of the local Administrator group.
or
b) the usage of a user with the name "Administrator" servername\administrator or domain\administrator and enabled UAC.

[SaAtomic]

I'm setting up an application-aware backup of a Windows Server 2012 R2 and get the following error message:

Code: Select all

Connecting to guest OS via VIX Error: Cannot upload  file to admin share [C:\Windows].
Cannot create folder in guest: [C:\Windows\VeeamGuestHelpersTest].
VIX Error: A file was not found Code: 4

Testing admin share accessibility via VIX

I've googled for a while and came across this blog entry https://notesfrommwhite.net/2016/06/28/ ... r-error-4/ and if I understand it correctly, the error can be fixed by using a local administrator account.
But I'm already using a local administrator account, for the target machine.

edit: The local administrator account is not named Administrator and I've added the following key in the registry:

Code: Select all

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy 1

What do I have to do to have my setup pass the application-aware backup test?

[Vitaliy S.]

You either need to use built-in local administrator (named one) or disable UAC on this server. Please review this topic for more info.

[jamerson]

Hi Guys.
we are building a new ESXI6 for our customer.
i have created a daily job after adding the globe admin username and password and run a test , everything seems to be fine only one error.

Code: Select all

1/6/2017 2:32:02 PM :: Connecting to guest OS via VIX Error: Cannot connect to host [10.10.2.2] over VIX. Login: [root]. Guest Login: [domain\admin_me].
Failed to open VM [[SSD] DC001/DC001.vmx].
VIX Error: There was an error in communication Code: 14010

admin_me user is globe admin and can access the admin$ of each VM.
is this a firewall block ?

thank you

[Vitaliy S.]

Julien, please take a look at my previous post for the solution. Should help.

[Andreas Neufert]

Let me please add again that VIX processing is used ad fallback (only) if RPC connection is not possible. So you can ignore this if you start a test.

If you can not avoid VIX usage, then look at my above statement for details.

[jamerson]

You either need to use built-in local administrator (named one) or disable UAC on this server. Please review this topic for more info.

which server do you mean to disable the UAC ? the VEEAM Server or the Client servers that need to be backed up ?

[Vitaliy S.]

This refers to client servers (VMs).

[Andreas Neufert]

There are 2 ways to speak with the VM for InGuest processing.
RPC - The typical Windows way over the network.
VIX - Veeam connects to the ESXi hosts and opens a network less connection to the VM by using the VIX communication channel of the VMware Tools.

RPC is faster than VIX.
Veeam tries first to connect by RPC and fallback to VIX.

So if you can connect by RPC there is no need to fix the VIX connection.

To allow VIX to work you need several things:
- Actual VMware Tools installed within the VM.
- VM is running
- VIX is enabled within VMware Tools and ESXi (this is by default the case).
- DNS resolution needs to work correctly with the ESXi VMKernel interfaces (VMKernel Hostname and Domain settings needs to be inline with DNS).

For authentication within the VM you need one of the following.
a) Disabled UAC and a account that is somehow member of the local Administrator group.
or
b) the usage of a user with the name "Administrator" servername\administrator or domain\administrator and enabled UAC.

[jamerson]

Disabled the UAC and after it works.
if it can't run the test , and the UAC is not off, would it do some harm stuff to the backup files ?

[Andreas Neufert]

It has not something to do with the way we write data, it is a question if the data is consistent and if you backup application-aware.

If RPC (over Network) works, you do not need VIX as VIX is ONLY used as fallback if RPC not work.

[lreese]

I pointed all of my backups to use the local admin account instead of the domain admin account and found this to fix my issue.
It seems like a messy fix, but it will do for now.

[Andreas Neufert]

Thanks for the feedback.

VIX is only needed if there is no network connection for RPC and RPC can work with any account that belong to local admin group (inherit).

[jrafter]

I've been back and forth with support regarding this topic/issue. I have a non-domain server sitting in my vSphere environment. I used local admin credentials for Veeam to use...RPC fails but VIX appears to work. In the email log I see "Failed to call RPC function 'Vss.Unfreeze': Error code: 0x80004005. Failed to invoke func [Unfreeze]: Unspecified error. Failed to unfreeze guest system (VIX mode). Cannot run program [C:\Windows\TEMP\{e1e7ef23-3551-4564-8433-fbcd048f0dad}]. VIX Error: VMware Tools are not running in the guest Code: 3016"

VMware tools are up to date and running...the funny thing is that the on the second attempt it backed up successfully. I cant seem to find any definitive answers for backing up a non-domain box.

Any help?

[PTide]

Hi,

Your post has been merged to the existing thread on the subject. Please review the thread and post your case ID. I'd also recommend to check VSS event log for any errors.

Thank you.

[b.vanhaastrecht]

Hello,

We have vSphere 6.0 and need networkless backup. Currently there's a problem with VIX:

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[20.04.2017 13:20:44] <49> Info     [WinGuestConnectionProxy] Connecting to guest service via VIX, hostIp '1.1.1.1', postPort '443', hostUser 'user', vmVmx '[spbr_ssd1] THLxxxxx (6f0051d4-bee4-4684-83e0-c25d8c4f13ce)/THL-xxxxxx(6f0051d4-bee4-4684-83e0-c25d8c4f13ce).vmx', vmUser 'domain\administrator'
[20.04.2017 13:20:45]      Info             Connecting to host [1.1.1.1] over VIX. Login: [user].
[20.04.2017 13:21:06]      Info             Connecting to host [1.1.1.1] over VIX. Login: [user].. Failed.
[20.04.2017 13:21:06]      Error             Cannot connect to host [1.1.1.1] over VIX. Login: [spbr_veeam]. Guest Login: [domain\administrator].
[20.04.2017 13:21:06]      Error             Failed to open VM [[spbr_ssd1] THL-xxxxxxx (6f0051d4-bee4-4684-83e0-c25d8c4f13ce)/THL-xxxxxxx (6f0051d4-bee4-4684-83e0-c25d8c4f13ce).vmx].
[20.04.2017 13:21:06]      Error             VIX Error: There was an error in communication Code: 14010

The user account is 100% correct and used to access the vCenter inventory correctly, it's an Administrator in vCenter.

There's a firewall between Veeam and vCenter (not managed by us). Does VIX use an other TCP port then 443? Other things that could be causing this?

Regards,
Bastiaan

[PTide]

Hi,

Does VIX use an other TCP port then 443?

I guess that it does:

1. VIX client program calls a function in the VIX library.
2. VIX sends a command over a TCP connection (on port 902) to the virtual machine’s VMX process. The TCP connection for VIX guest operations goes directly to VMX on the ESXi host, bypassing the vCenter Server, and the host agent process. By contrast, virtual machine and datacenter operations are proxied by vCenter Server using SOAP/https on port 443, and relayed to the host agent.
3. VMX relays the command to VMware Tools in the guest.
4. VMware Tools has the Guest OS execute the guest operation.

14010 is a VIX_E_HOST_TCP_SOCKET_ERROR

Thanks

[Ioannis.T]

Hello,

I recently started evaluating Veeam backup&replication.
We have 3 AD domains. Domain A, B, C. There is no trust between those domains.
Veeam is in Domain A.
I have created different credentials in the credentials manager for each domain.
While everything works great for domain A, guest index & application-aware does not work for the other 2 domains.
I select the appropriate credentials for each VM before testing.
I have UAC disabled. and re-installed VM tools.
The error I get is

Code: Select all

Connecting to guest OS via VIX Error: Cannot upload  file to admin share [C:\Windows].Cannot create folder in guest: [C:\Windows\VeeamGuestHelpersTest].VIX Error: A file was not found Code: 4
Testing admin share accessibility via VIX

Any ideas?

Thank you
Ioannis

[pcdr11]

i was able to resolve by simply making the local administrator account PASSWORD the same as the Domain administrator account.