I get the message "the last backup did not complete successfully" accompanied by an error code of 0x81000031 . The first time this happened I thought it was simply because I didn't do a clean install. I do the clean install and the backups happen every day at 4 in the morning like clockwork. I get about 7 consecutive backups to go and now suddenly this message pops up everytime I attempt to do another backup. Is there any way at all that I can possibly completely delete the backup on my drive and have Windows just start over from scratch or does anyone know how I could just get the backups to continue again as they normally did?

Hi Samuel,Thanks for trying out Windows 7 backup. Can you please check the detailed error message,by clicking Show Details button introubleshoot dialog. That should give you more insight into the problem as this error code does not give us any useful info.If that does not give any useful info please send across the contents of C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsBackup to nehaa_at_microsoft_dot_com (Remove the underscores and replace the words with symbols wherever applicable). We can then take a look into this.For your 2nd question Is there any way at all that I can possibly completely delete the backup on my drive and have Windows just start over from scratch ...You can go and select Manage Space on Backup and Restore Panel. From there you can select to delete backups and run new backupswith the same config.Please get back to me if your problem is not solved.

I have the same problem. There is nothing in the specified log file--it's there, it's just empty.William (Bill) Vaughn -- Mentor, Author, Dad and MVP

Followed up with Bill offline. The issue was: One of the his removable drives (DVD drive) was added to the document library and backup was failingbecause it was unable to backup that removable location as part of document library. Once that removable location was removed from the library location backup was successful.Thanks,Neha[MSFT]

So I'm coming back to this post quite late but I wanted to at least check in and report that I just did a simple clean install shortly after having the issue and everything was fine from that point on.

Hi, I just found this forum while I am having the same problem. I would appreciate your help. My problem is even more complicated. I tried to create the bacup on an older 80GB external drive. Then I bought Seagate 500GB drive but in the backup screen, there is still sitting the old 80GB drive whether or not turned on and I can't change it. If I click on "Change Settings" it tells me that the "Windows bakup stopped working". Well, when I re-connect the old 80GB drive I can start to create the backup on it however it doesn't finish and the message is "The last backup did not complete successfully". The error code is: 0x800706BE. Another thing impossible is to try to "Create a system image" by clicking this paragraph on the left side. It will always tell me that the Windows backup stopped working. I realize that the system image is a part of the backup itself but then why is "Create a system image" on the left side of the backup window as separate task? I would greatly appreciate your help. Danny Posadka, Calgary, Canada

It is interesting how nobody can't even say anything about this problem. I also addressed Microsoft directly with this issue but there is nothing coming back. I just wish I could (which I am not allowed to with my two Acer slimline computers) switch back to Windows XP and I would happily abandon this another Microsoft great achivement called Windows 7. You can't even set your Windows Live Mail to open into your Inbox. It opens in the folder where you've left your e-mail, "deleted" or "sent", etc. Any other e-mail has that settings available. The XP had it. Yes, I haven't saved the initial Windows 7 when I bought the computer. That was my mistake, but that should be possible later. I even don't know whether it was possible then.

Posting the same reply as on another thread: I am following up with "Looking for genuine advise" offline. From his initial post this issue looks different from what is addressed in this thread. I will suggest you to start a new thread on http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/threads for better traction and attention to this issue. Thanks, Neha