Error “The target path ‘X:\WindowsImageBackup’ already exists – please safely remove this directory and retry the backup.”

The "Windows System Backup" Protected Item type uses the wbadmin program to write a disk image to the spool directory; backs up the spool directory with eazyBackup; and then cleans up the spool directory. eazyBackup automatically removes this directory after the backup, even if the backup failed.

If the directory exists at the start of a backup job, this could mean either

1. eazyBackup did not have the chance to clean up the directory (e.g. the PC was not shut down safely); or
2. another eazyBackup backup job is running simultaneously; or
3. another non-eazyBackup software on the PC is also using the wbadmin functionality for System State or Windows System Backup.

You can avoid case 2 above by using the "Skip if already running" option.

It's not generally possible to distinguish between case 1 and case 3 above. If you look at the job history and you are able to make a positive distinction between these cases, it may be safe to delete the directory.

You can temporarily add the following command as a "Before" command to the backup job:

rmdir /S /Q "X:\WindowsImageBackup\"

You should then remove this command from the job settings after the command has run, because this command would cause problems if two eazyBackup backup jobs ever run simultaneously in the future.