On a Symantec Backup Exec 11d server that is backing up Microsoft SQL Server databases you may encounter failed backups with an error:
The path for this database is invalid because it contains extra backslash characters. You must remove the extra backslash characters before the database can be backed up.
The solution provided by Symantec is here, and references instructions from Microsoft here on detaching and reattaching the database with the correct path.
In some cases the database in question will actually be the Symantec Backup Exec database created by the installation. The database is usually named “BEDB”. In these cases you may follow the instructions above, and then find that the problem returns after the next backup is run. In the case I worked on no matter how many times I detached and reattached the database to remove the extra backslashes in the paths, the problem would return.
I found the solution to be a registry change on the Symantec Backup Exec server. In the registry key HKLMSOFTWARESymantecBackup Exec For WindowsBEDatabase look for the values “Server Database Path” and “Server Database Log Path“. If these values have trailing backslashes like so:
“Server Database Path”=”E:Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQLData”
“Server Database Log Path”=”D:Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQLData”
then remove them so that they appear like this instead:
“Server Database Path”=”E:Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQLData”
“Server Database Log Path”=”D:Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQLData”
You should now find that the documented solution from Symantec works properly.
