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hrRestoreInProgress
Why this result matters
For hrRestoreInProgress, this code narrows the investigation to one engine boundary and should not be flattened into a generic exception. The decisive boundary is another restore context already owns the Directory Service restore workflow.
The stored Value is 0xC7FF0004 (facility-specific HRESULT). The HRESULT carries failure severity, so output state must be treated according to the individual API contract. The legacy this result name comes from the Windows Directory Service backup/restore message header.
The first useful distinction is that this is workflow exclusivity, not an ESE log-replay error inside the active restore. Start by identify the active HBC owner, restore mode, locked directories, start time, and whether completion or abort cleanup ran. That separates a reproducible incident from a later generic cleanup or service error.
Do not confuse it with
This result specifically means that this is workflow exclusivity, not an ESE log-replay error inside the active restore. Related values below can appear in the same workflow but require a different response:
hrInvalidParam | a legacy Directory Service backup/restore call rejected one or more arguments before advancing its context |
|---|---|
hrInvalidHandle | the HBC context or current-file state is invalid for the requested backup/restore operation |
hrInvalidRecips | the recipient information supplied to the legacy backup operation failed validation |
Keep the original constant and hexadecimal value in telemetry. Replacing this result with “backup failed” or “database warning” removes the state information needed to select the next legal API call.
Forensic checklist
Preserve the first result before retries, cleanup, service restart, or file replacement changes the evidence. The diagnostic record should identify the exact API phase and the owner of every handle or artifact involved.
- Code-specific observation: identify the active HBC owner, restore mode, locked directories, start time, and whether completion or abort cleanup ran.
- Current open file: record it together with it and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- RPC/Win32 status beneath the HRESULT: record it together with it and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- Function and parameter values: record it together with it and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
- HBC creation and owner: record it together with it and the timestamp of the first occurrence.
Use hashes, lengths, IDs, generation numbers, and redacted samples instead of copying directory contents or sensitive database values into routine logs. For this it investigation, a complete provenance chain is often more useful than a second automatic retry.
Objects and state involved
| Diagnostic layer | the legacy Ntdsbcli HBC context and exact API call contract |
|---|---|
| Relevant API surface | DsBackupPrepare/OpenFile/Read/Close/End and DsRestorePrepare/Register/Complete/End |
| Code-specific boundary | another restore context already owns the Directory Service restore workflow |
| Narrow corrective direction | complete or explicitly unwind the existing restore before creating a new context |
Beginning with Windows Vista, Microsoft directs new implementations to VSS instead of these legacy functions., the HBC state advances across calls and must be released even when a later step fails.
Actions that can make diagnosis worse
- do not continue after an invalid context or undefined output.
- do not reuse an HBC after end, abort, or a fatal sequence error.
- do not discard the first lower-level Win32, RPC, or JET result merely because a later cleanup call returned a more familiar error.
Validation after correction
- Record it,
0xC7FF0004, the API name, the current phase, and all live context or file owners. - Verify the decisive condition by identify the active HBC owner, restore mode, locked directories, start time, and whether completion or abort cleanup ran.
- Apply only the narrow correction: complete or explicitly unwind the existing restore before creating a new context.
- After it, recreate any context invalidated by the failure; do not carry stale HBC, cursor, file, or restore-map state into the retry.
- repeat the smallest non-destructive test that reaches the same boundary, then verify both the return value and the resulting file, cursor, backup, or database state.
Acceptance criteria for a fix
A useful regression test for it should force the condition “another restore context already owns the Directory Service restore workflow”, call one documented API transition, and assert the exact HRESULT. The corrected the case should change only the decisive precondition and should verify cleanup as well as the primary output. For the result backup or restore path, also prove that the resulting set can be enumerated and that no file handle or context remains active after finalization.
Technical references
- AD backup error values — API ordering, file semantics, warning/error interpretation, or recovery behavior relevant to it.
- AD backup walkthrough
- DsRestorePrepare contract
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