Microsoft and Veeam are actively investigating a critical issue causing connection failures during data recovery on Windows 11 24H2 systems. This problem affects users attempting to restore data using Veeam Recovery Media created on devices running Windows 11 24H2 (build 26100.3194 or higher).
The exact cause of these recovery failures remains unclear. However, Veeam suspects that changes introduced in the February Windows 11 24H2 update (KB5051987) could be behind the issue.
What’s Causing the Veeam Restore Failure on Windows 11?
Users encountering this bug report network connection errors when restoring files from a Veeam Backup & Replication server or accessing a shared SMB network folder. Once triggered, the Veeam Agent for Windows displays the following error message:
“Connection problems. Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. Failed to establish connection: no valid IP addresses were found. Unable to establish authenticated client-server connection. A call to SSPI failed, see inner exception. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted.”
If users attempt recovery from an SMB shared folder, they face another frustrating error: “The remote procedure call failed and did not execute.”
Temporary Workaround for Impacted Users
Until a permanent fix is released, Veeam recommends using Recovery Media generated from a system running older Windows 11 builds (26100.3037 or lower). This workaround allows users to bypass the connection failures during the restore process.
Veeam explained that its Recovery Media is built using Microsoft Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and includes proprietary Windows components. For that reason, Veeam cannot provide a ready-to-use Recovery Media image to users.
“Typically, Recovery Media created on one machine can perform bare-metal restores on another,” Veeam noted. “However, keep in mind that specific hardware drivers — such as network adapters, wireless cards, or RAID controllers — might be missing if the recovery image was created on a different device.”
Who’s Affected?
This recovery glitch could impact a large number of users. Veeam’s data protection products are trusted by over 550,000 customers globally, including 82% of Fortune 500 companies and 74% of the Global 2,000.
The incident also highlights broader issues with the KB5051987 update. Notably, Microsoft previously acknowledged a separate bug caused by this same update — breaking Outlook’s drag-and-drop functionality in email and calendar on Windows 24H2 systems.
What’s Next?
Both Microsoft and Veeam are working together to identify the root cause and develop a fix. For now, affected users should avoid creating Recovery Media on the latest Windows 11 24H2 builds and stick with earlier versions for critical recovery tasks.
