Veeam Agent 13.0.3 Bare Metal Recovery instantly fails with "The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted" (Windows 11 25H2)
TL;DR
TL;DR: Veeam Agent 13.0.3 Bare Metal Recovery on Windows 11 25H2 (Build 26200.8655) instantly fails before writing anything to disk. The backup is detected correctly and disk mapping completes successfully, but the recovery logs show Veeam failing to authenticate with its own local recovery agent: "The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted (System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception)"
Has anyone seen this or found a workaround?
So, I've spent the better part of today troubleshooting this and have narrowed the problem down much further than the generic error message suggests. I'm hoping someone here has seen this before or can point me in the right direction.
Environment
- Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Free
- Version 13.0.3.1220-3
- Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (Build 26200.8655)
- ASUS ProArt Studiobook W7604
- Backup stored on a locally attached USB hard drive (NTFS)
- Bare Metal Recovery booted from Veeam Recovery Media
What works
The recovery environment appears to function normally.
- Recovery Media boots successfully.
- External USB backup drive is detected.
- Backup is automatically detected.
- Restore point is found.
- Automatic disk mapping is correct.
- Restore Summary page displays correctly.
The backup itself appears to be healthy.
What fails
Immediately after pressing Restore, the restore fails in less than one second.
Nothing is written to the SSD.
The GUI reports only:
>
After exporting the recovery logs, I found the following:
[04.07.2026 19:09:45.422] [TlsSocket] Connecting to '[::1]:2500'
[04.07.2026 19:09:45.499] [TlsSocket] Error on authentication
Authentication failed, see inner exception.
(System.Security.Authentication.AuthenticationException)
The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted
(System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception)
Failed to connect to agent 'veeamre-samwn34'
Immediately before the failure:
[TransportService] Connecting to transport service, host 'veeamre-samwn34'
[AgentMngr] Agent has been started
[SocketAgentService] Connecting to agent
[TlsSocket] Connecting to '[::1]:2500'
The logs show that the local recovery agent starts successfully, but the TLS authentication with the local agent fails almost immediately over the loopback interface (::1 / 127.0.0.1).
Troubleshooting already performed
- Verified the backup is healthy.
- Verified the restore point.
- Verified automatic disk mapping.
- Recreated the Recovery Media ISO.
- Created a new bootable USB.
- Exported and reviewed the recovery logs.
- Tested with only the AC adapter and backup drive connected.
- Backup is on a local USB drive, not a network share or repository.
My questions
- Has anyone seen this on Windows 11 25H2 (Build 26200.8655)?
- Is this related to the WinRE authentication issues described in Veeam KB4726, even though I'm restoring from a local USB drive?
- Is there a known workaround, newer recovery environment, or hotfix?
The full recovery logs are available if anyone would like me to upload them.
Thank you in advance—I really appreciate any ideas.
If someone from Veeam would like additional logs or would like me to test something specific, I'm happy to do so. I've intentionally stopped making changes to the system so it remains in a reproducible state.