I have seen this issue asked in several forums all without a proper resolution.
I have a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 server fully updated
Backups are failing.
Removed Windows server backup features, replaced usb drive with new drive.
formatted drive, then reinstalled Windows Server Backup Features.
Using WBADMIN command line I tried to run a System state backup.
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C:\Users\username>wbadmin START SYSTEMSTATEBACKUP -backupTarget:q:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.
Starting to back up the system state [4/4/2012 3:10 PM]...
Retrieving volume information...
This will back up the system state from volume(s) Local Disk(EFI System Partitio
n) (200.00 MB),Local Disk(C:),System Center(D:) to q:.
Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y
The Windows Backup engine could not be contacted. Retry the operation.
The remote procedure call failed.
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Logs in C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup state
GUID=c7fef335-5c53-12f5-9115-c3e913aa3386 (No Format Information found).
Anything you can do to help.
Thank you.