Windows Backup Bug Prevents Israeli Administrators from Backing Up Windows Server 2008

Update: As of June 2008, this bug has been acknowledged and a private fix is already available. I was informed by the product group that a public fix will be shortly available. Stay tuned for more info.
A couple of days ago I was teaching a Windows Server 2008 course and I got to the point where I had to demo the procedure of backing up and restoring Windows Server 2008. When I teach I usually use a virtual machine, and this time too I had Windows Server 2008 RTM running as a VM inside Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.
Note that I’ve been able to repro on 3 separate installations, but these were ALL under some sort of virtualization software – either VS 2005 R2 SP1, or VMware Workstation 6.02. I simply don’t have a physical box at hand to test on right now.
Here are the repro details:

1. Configure Windows Server 2008 RTM with Jerusalem Time Zone, make sure that the DST check-box is selected (as it should).

1. Install Windows Backup. You can install it via Server Manager, or via servermanagercmd.exe. I didn’t try to install Windows Backup before changing the time zone, mostly because changing the time zone is one of the first things that an administrator does for a computer not located in the default Pacific time zone.

Also note that I tested this on a DC as well as on a simple member server. No additional roles have been installed or tested. .NET Framework 3.0 or IIS where NOT installed.
 

1. Run Windows Backup. Select to perform a custom backup. Next you should select to backup the system partition (you might try other partitions as well, I only had one extra disk available so I couldn’t test with more volumes). I tried to backup both in VSS copy mode and VSS full mode, both crashed.

1. Error will appear:

Unhandled exception has occurred in a component in your applicationIf you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue.

SystemTimeToTZSpecificLocalTime failed due to error: The parameter is incorrect. (0X80070057)

1. Clicking Ok will cause the error to pop up again, several times. Finally, the MMC console will crash and will display the following error:
   It seems that the backup job will still run in the background, it’s the MMC that crashes, not the backup job.

In order to fix the bug please perform the following steps:

1. Change the time zone to any other time zone. Removing the DST check-box and remaining under Jerusalem time zone will also work.

1. Run Windows Backup. You’ll see that the backup job is running.

1. If you return to Jerusalem + DST you will also have similar issues when trying to restore any file or folder. Changing the time zone again will allow you to perform the restore.

1. Unless you change the time zone or remove DST from Jerusalem, Windows Backup console will keep on crashing any time you open it.

These were the repro details. I’d love to hear what you have to say about these issues. Also, if you find the same behavior in different time zones please do drop me a line at the FEEDBACK page.
In any case, I’ve reported the bug to Microsoft, when I have more info I will post it on this page.