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NovaBACKUP 22 Does Not Start and Backups Fail in the British Columbia, Alberta, or Yukon Time Zone

If NovaBACKUP stopped opening or your backups started failing after Windows switched to the new British Columbia or Alberta time zone, here is how to get your backups running again.

Applies to: NovaBACKUP PC Agent and NovaBACKUP Server Agent, version 22, on computers in British Columbia, Alberta, or Yukon.

British Columbia and Alberta stopped changing their clocks in 2026, and Windows now has new time zones for both provinces. If NovaBACKUP stopped opening or your backups started failing after Windows switched to one of these time zones, this article explains how to get your backups running again until a NovaBACKUP update adds support for them.

Symptom

One or more of the following happens on a computer whose Windows time zone is (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia), (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta), or (UTC-07:00) Yukon:

  • When you open NovaBACKUP, the window flashes and then stays blank (British Columbia and Alberta).
  • Every backup job fails within seconds. The job log shows an error similar to: 
    exception getting local zone exception: std::runtime_error: current_zone() failed: a mapping from the windows time zone id "british columbia standard time" was not found in the time zone mapping database.
  • Backup jobs fail with e0010021 Internal error.

In British Columbia, the problem typically starts after a Windows update installs the new time zone. In Alberta, it started with the time change on November 1, 2026.

Cause

The NovaBACKUP backup engine uses its own time zone database to convert backup times between local time and UTC. That database does not include the new Windows time zones for British Columbia and Alberta, or the Yukon time zone. When Windows is set to one of them, the engine cannot determine the local time zone and stops as soon as it starts, so every backup job fails.

The NovaBACKUP window also determines the local time zone when it opens. It does not recognize the new British Columbia and Alberta time zones either, so the window stays blank.

Your existing backups are not affected.

Solution

A NovaBACKUP update will add the new time zones. Until then, set Windows to an older time zone that has the same UTC offset all year. The clock on your computer then shows the same time as before.

Your regionCurrent Windows time zoneSelect instead
British Columbia(UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia)(UTC-07:00) Arizona
Yukon(UTC-07:00) Yukon(UTC-07:00) Arizona
Alberta(UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta)(UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan

Important: Do not select (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) or (UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada). NovaBACKUP starts with these time zones, but they still change for daylight saving time, so your clock is an hour off for part of the year. Mountain Time (US & Canada), for example, went back to UTC-7 on November 1, 2026, while Alberta stays on UTC-6.

Change the time zone

  1. Open Settings > Time & language > Date & time.
  2. Turn off Set time zone automatically. Otherwise, Windows switches back to the new time zone.
  3. If you set the time by hand while troubleshooting, turn Set time automatically back on.
  4. Under Time zone, select the time zone from the table above.
  5. Check that the clock shows the correct local time.
  6. Restart the computer.
  7. Open NovaBACKUP and run your backup job, or wait for its next scheduled run.

Change the time zone on several computers

To change the time zone from a command line, for example through your RMM tool, run one of these commands as an administrator, then restart the computer:

rem British Columbia and Yukon
tzutil /s "US Mountain Standard Time"

rem Alberta
tzutil /s "Canada Central Standard Time"

Note: If the time zone is set by Group Policy or by your device management tool, change it there. Otherwise, the policy changes it back.

Once the NovaBACKUP update is available and installed, you can switch back to your province's time zone and turn Set time zone automatically back on.

Note: Scheduled backups keep their local start times, because the clock shows the same time after the change.

If the problem continues

  1. Check that the Windows time zone is still the one you selected, especially after a restart.
  2. Collect the logs: run LogCollector.exe from C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\ as an administrator. It saves an archive of all logs on your desktop.
  3. Open a support ticket and attach the Log Collector archive.

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