When trying to restore an Exchange Information Store backup to a Recovery Storage Group for Exchange 2003 an error is received:

0xe000fe09 - The directory is invalid.

The following error text is seen in the Remote Agent debug log on the Exchange server:

ESE_CheckForStorageGroup
Must be a recovery storage group
Error: CreateObj returns extended error e000fe09


This error can be returned if Backup Exec is unable to create the necessary temp files for the restore job. These temp files are stored in the path that is specified for the restore job under Restore Job Properties | Microsoft Exchange | 'Path on Exchange server for temporary storage of log and patch files'.  Backup Exec will need access to the fully qualified path of the $ (hidden) share to the drive containing the temp folder specified for the restore job. For Example: If D:\Temp is being used to store the temp files for the restore job, Backup Exec needs access to \\servername.DomainName.com\D$.

In order to test this access before running the restore job, go to Start | Run on the Exchange server, and try to access \\servername.DomainName.com\D$. If this path is not accessible, the restore will fail with the "The directory is invalid" error. This problem must be corrected in order for the restore to run successfully.