I am running Windows 8 Pro on a home built server and am trying to run WHS2011 in VirtualBox 4.2.12. WHS2011 backs up my client computers but I CANNOT successfully backup the server to an external hard drive. I can successfully run the server backup wizard (i.e. select the external hard drive, name the backup drive, select the schedule, select the folders to backup, etc) however when I actually run the backup, it fails every time around the 40% mark.
I noticed that Dave wrote an article in September 2011 describing how to set up WHS2011 and he installed WHS2011 on a Virtual Machine.
[url="https://davescomputertips.com/2011/09/the-windows-home-server-2011-dashboard-home-tab/"]
I don't know if Dave actually ran WHS2011 on the Virtual Machine and was able to run a server backup or just used the virtual machine to print out screen shots but I would like to know if he was able to run server backups and if so, what Virtual Machine he used and how he set it up.
I would appreciate any guidance in getting the WHS2011 virtual machine server backups to complete successfully.
Thanks,
Jeff
My Computer
Intel Core i5
ASRock H77 Pro4
Hi, and welcome to the Forum!!
This is definitely one for Dave but I thought I'd say 'hi' anyway. 
Dave will respond soon... stand by!
Cheers... Jim
Jeff,
I've been up to my eye balls in work, so please accept my apology for the delayed response.
I didn't/don't run WHS in a VM - it was only for the screenshot convenience. I've been running Hyper-V, so I don't even have VirtualBox installed.
That said, Is the drive viewable from the WHS OS? I mean can you see it in Explorer and interact with the files (not just the Dashboard).
There are only four things I can think of that would cause that to happen: 1. Faulty drive, 2. Power settings, 3. a quirk in VirtualBox, or WHS being quirky about the backup.
I would start by manually attempting a backup from the Dashboard.
If that doesn't work do a chkdsk of the drive.
If that doesn't work make sure neither OS is set to sleep or hibernate then look at advanced power options in the Win 8 AND WHS OS (i.e., do this on both). Control Panel>Power Options then select Change Plan Settings beside the plan with the highlighted radio button. When this loads click Change Advanced Power Settings and scroll down to USB Settings. Open that and disable USB Selective Suspend.
You should also open Device Manager - Control Manager>Device Manager and scroll to Universal Serial Buss controllers. You'll need to right click on every entry in that category and choose Properties. If the item has a Power Management tab you'll want to remove the checkbox next to Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
Dave-
Thank you very much for your suggestions. The original external hard drive I was attempting to use for the server backups was old. I had already run SeaTools and chkdsk on it and it showed no problems so I bought a new hard drive and the backups worked with the new drive. I implemented all your sleep/hibernate suggestions as well.
Thanks again,
Jeff
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