SOLVED: How To Update The Backup Exec Agent

Veritas Backup Exec requires an agent to be installed on each computer it is backing up and sometimes ther are notable problems during the agent upgrade. We will go over a few Backup Exec problems you may run into.

How To Upgrade Backup Exec Agents

If you already have Backup Exec installed and running then it is normally a very easy process to upgrade the client agents:

1. Launch Backup Exec
2. Click on BACKUP AND RESTORE along the top menu
3. Click ACTIVE (to show you your active servers) from the menu on the left
4. Right click on the server that you want to update, and select RUN NOW WITH NO RECURRING SCHEDULE

It is not uncommon to see problems with the Backup Exec Agent install and here are some of the ways you can try to correct the errors.

You might see:

Backup Exec job failed. Another version of the agent for windows is installed on the target computer Uninstall the agent before continuing:

The solution is to do just what it says. Go to the computer you are trying to install the BUExec agent on, launch PROGRAMS AND FEATURES, click on the VERITAS BACKUP EXEC REMOTE AGENT FOR WINDOWS and uninstall it.

If the agent uninstall fails, try:

1. Logging off all other users, including anyone that is DISCONNECTED
2. Launching SERVICES and stopping all Backup Exec services manually (see screenshot below)
3. Setting the Backup Exec services to DISABLED and then reboot

After each step try the BUExec uninstall again.