If you’re trying to restore a SharePoint 2007 backup file of a site from one SharePoint installation to another, you might get the following error:
Your backup is from a different version of Windows SharePoint Services and cannot be restored to a server running the current version. The backup file should be restored to a server with version ‘12.0.0.xxxx’ or later.
The message is actually spot on. What happens is actually identified in the second sentence. The backup file expects a specific SharePoint version to install to. If that version is not present (or, a newer one), the restore command will not succeed. You need to apply the patch or service pack that will raise your SharePoint installation to at least the version number of the SharePoint installation where your backup file came from.
PS: To install the backup file, you will need to powershell the following command:
stsadm.exe -o restore -url siteCollectionURL -filename “navigationPath\backupFile.bak” -overwrite
