Job fails to start due to timeout

KB ID: 1909
Product: Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Veeam Backup & Replication
Version: VBR - 7 and up | VAW - 2.x and up
Published: 2014-07-29
Last Modified: 2022-07-11
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Challenge

In Veeam Backup & Replication, if more than 100 jobs are running simultaneously, and the user attempts to start more jobs, they may fail to start with the following error message: 
Error Job <JobName> cannot be started. SessionId: <UUID>, Timeout: [361 sec]
A Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows backup job may fail with: 
Managed session <UUID> has failed
In the Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows service logs (Svc.VeeamEndpointBackup.log) following errors are found: 
Error Job <JobName> cannot be started. SessionId: <UUID>, Timeout: [361 sec]
Error Job [Infrastructure update] has failed to start. Timeout expired (6 minutes). SessionId: <UUID>
The following event is found in the System event logs: 
Log Name:      System
Source:        Win32k
Event ID:      243
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:     
Description:
A desktop heap allocation failed.

Cause

By default, Veeam services are run as the LocalSystem account. As a result, all processes are started under NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM context. If the Windows OS is running out of Desktop Heap memory, new processes can't be started. 

Solution

Article Applicability

This article is relevant to a specific scenario where the Windows OS suffers from a 'heap allocation' failure.

The solution provided in this article should only be performed if Event ID# 243 is found in the Windows System Event Logs (eventvwr.msc).

The Desktop Heap size must be increased via a registry modification.

Because this change will affect the desktop heap of all services (also known as non-interactive window stations), do not make the new value larger than necessary.

  1. Run regedit and navigate to
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems

  2. Find string named "Windows"

  3. Edit the Value data to change the third "SharedSection" value only.
    Do not modify any other values.

  4. Press OK
  5. Reboot the machine
The steps provided will not always resolve the heap issue; in case of a desktop heap memory leak caused by a third-party service, the issue may return several days\weeks after OS restart. If this occurs, we recommend contacting Microsoft support for low-level debugging assistance.

More Information

Starting with Server 2012 R2, Microsoft has changed the core logic of the heap memory management system, and publicly available tools used with previous versions to check per process head usage are incompatible. If you encounter the Veeam error listed in this KB and Event ID# 243 is found in the event viewer, we advise opening a case with Microsoft support to request assistance tracking down any service memory leaks.
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