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OneDrive backup job fails with "Download request retry timeout exceeded"

KB ID: 4529
Product: Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 | 7.0
Published: 2023-12-20
Last Modified: 2025-01-29
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Challenge

During a OneDrive backup, the following error may occur while downloading a OneNote file (.one):

Failed to backup item: %path%, Download request retry timeout exceeded.

This issue may occur on the following versions of Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365:

  • v7 P20231218 (build 7.0.0.4551) and earlier
  • v7a (build 7.1.0.1301)
  • v7a P20231218 (build 7.1.0.1401)

Cause

This issue concerns the failure to back up a OneNote .one file on SharePoint. Initially, these problems were tied to changes made to the Microsoft 365 backend in late 2023. However, Microsoft resolved those issues by Q3 2024. Further occurrences of this problem are believed to stem from an excessive file version history for .one files, caused by having OneNote store files directly on OneDrive rather than using the built-in OneNote notebook synchronization feature.

When using OneNote with OneDrive, compatibility issues can arise if users attempt to sync notebooks directly through the OneDrive file system instead of using the built-in notebook synchronization features. According to Microsoft's OneNote syncing best practices​​​​​​​, "Do not use Windows Explorer to move folders containing .one files to OneDrive." Instead, customers should utilize the built-in notebook synchronization functionality.

Solution

Starting with Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 build v7 P20240123 (build 7.0.0.4901) and v7a P20240123  (build 7.1.0.1501), to prevent interruptions in backup operations due to the failure to backup up such OneNote files, these files will be automatically skipped with a corresponding warning. The warning can be suppressed using the information provided in the More Information section below.

Please contact Microsoft Support for assistance investigating why a particular OneNote notebook file cannot be downloaded. As noted in the Cause section of this article, the most common cause is an excessively large number of file history versions for an individual OneNote notebook file.

More Information

Supressing Warnings (Optional)

The job will perform retries for the affected OneNote items, and warnings will be logged in the job status. The following instructions may be implemented to supress the warnings and disable the retries for items affected by the issue described in this KB.

Note: This will disable retries for OneNote notebooks affected by this specific issue — other issues that require a retry will trigger a retry as expected.

On the Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 server and each proxy server, perform the following:

  1. Stop the Veeam Backup Proxy for Microsoft 365 Service service.
  2. Edit the Proxy.xml file located here:
    C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup365\Proxy.xml
  3. With the Proxy.xml file, add the following line under the <Archiver> section:
<Source SkipOneNoteTimeoutWarning="true" />
  1. Start the Veeam Backup Proxy for Microsoft 365 Service service.

Remember: Repeat procedure on each proxy.

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