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User profile for user: Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Time machine: The selected network backup disk does not support the required capabilities

Since the Covid pandemic I have been working at home a lot. So I bought a WD MyCloud Ex2 Ultra NAS to back-up my work machine also at home. I backup all my and my family's machines on this NAS and it has worked fine for the past (almost) 2 years. Now however, I had to rechoose the NAS as time machine disk again (due to an update in the WD firmware).


  • this worked fine on my daughters' MacBook airs, and on my iMac running Monterey (12.1), however my MBpro (2017) running 12.1 also gives me the above error.
  • Everything I've done doesn't change anything. I've even gone as far as deleting the backup sparse bundle form the NAS, to no avail.


It is really strange as this used to work. Is it a WD issue? Possibly, but they cannot help me apparently, and my other machined do backup to the NAS. Only my MBpro has this issue.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Jan 30, 2022 8:52 AM

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User profile for user: Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Posted on Mar 1, 2022 6:20 AM

Finally solved it. In a search around the deepest abysses of NAS user forums 😉 I found that it may be a problem with how this specific machine has smb configured. A simple:

  • sudo rm -f /etc/nsmb.conf
  • reboot

was suggested. Once I did that it worked again and my machine is now finally backing up again to the NAS.

Thanks for all your support!

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User profile for user: Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Mar 1, 2022 6:20 AM in response to Maarten van der Smagt

Finally solved it. In a search around the deepest abysses of NAS user forums 😉 I found that it may be a problem with how this specific machine has smb configured. A simple:

  • sudo rm -f /etc/nsmb.conf
  • reboot

was suggested. Once I did that it worked again and my machine is now finally backing up again to the NAS.

Thanks for all your support!

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User profile for user: MichelleT18
MichelleT18
User level: Community Specialist

Jan 31, 2022 10:55 AM in response to Maarten van der Smagt

Hello Maarten van der Smagt,


Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. Upon review of your post, it seems that you are having unexpected issues backing up your Mac to Time Machine, using a Western Digital external hard drive. We can see why you’d want this taken care of as not keeping your data safely backed up is never a good idea, so let us help from here! Let’s start out by testing to see when this behavior occurs. 


First, put your Mac into safe mode and test. Booting into safe mode will disable any startup and login items from automatically opening, which can help us to isolate the source of the issue further. When you do this, you’ll see some unusual behavior from the display; this is to be expected. Please follow the steps in this article: How to use safe mode on your Mac. 


Next, let's see if this behavior persists in a second user account on your Mac. If you have a second account, please log into that and see how it works. If you don't have one you can use, please follow these steps to make a test account that can be deleted later: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac.


Please let us know how these tests go. We're here for you. Have a fantastic day!

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User profile for user: Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Feb 2, 2022 5:09 AM in response to MichelleT18

Thank you MichelleT18. I should have thought about these options myself.


However, for both options I get exactly the same respons. This (imho weird) error message that this network backup disc (which has been successfully used by this machine for years also) does not support the required capabilities.


I see that a system update (12.2) is available apparently. I will install this and see whether that helps (though I am sceptical).

Thanks again, If you gave any other ideas lease let me know.

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User profile for user: lllaass
lllaass
User level: Level 10
210,453 points

Feb 2, 2022 6:59 AM in response to Maarten van der Smagt

Withing the past weeks or two another user had same problem with his WD MyCloud Ex2 Ultra NAS. After several suggestions like are discussed here he contacted WD but had not yet got a response.


I have a QNAP NAS and I first used it on 12.2 on my M2 MacBook Air with no problem.


Can you just deleted everythin associated with ™ backup on the NAS and re-add the users?

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User profile for user: Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt Author
User level: Level 1
18 points

Feb 6, 2022 11:32 PM in response to Jim Beggans

thanks Jim. That is insightful information. Indeed it is the change to remove AFP that triggered the issue. It is when adding the 'new' share that works fine for my families 3 other machines, but gives me the error on my MBPro. I didn't know about oplocks, but it is switched on one WD my cloud. I tried toggling and trying in different setting but alas, no difference.

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Time machine: The selected network backup disk does not support the required capabilities

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