We are using Server 2008 Standard 64 bit.
Any time we try to back up to a local disk, USB disk or external share it fails, upon further investigation it says the VSS writer has failed.
We uninstalled and reinstalled the backup add on but it did not fix the problem.
I checked services and Volume Shadow service is running, does anyone have any ideas why this is happening?
Thanks a bunch
Jason

Hello,

Did you use Windows Server Backup shipped with Windows Server 2008 to back up your server, or some other third-party backup applications? If you are using some third party applications, please try the build-in Windows Server Backup program to see whether it works.

Have you installed Microsoft Exchange 2007 on the server? If you do, this problem may relate to Microsoft Exchange 2007, and you may need to read the following article:

The Microsoft Exchange Replication Service VSS writer failed:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb218863(EXCHG.80).aspx

If not, please take a look at the Event Viewer and let me know the exact error messages there. You can do this by clicking Start -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer. Navigate to "Applications and Services Logs\Microsoft\Windows\Backup\Operational", see if any relevant Error exists in the right pane and let me know the exact messages.

Besides, please try the following steps and see if it can work:

1. Check the VSS writer status with the command "vssadmin list writers" (without the quotation marks).

See what the output shows. If there are any writers showing a State of "Failed" and the Last error stating "Retryable error" or "Non-Retryable Error", please let me know.

2. If the Last error states "Retryable error", then reboot the server and retry the backup operation, see how it goes.

Best regards,

Chang Yin

There were errors with the VSS writer, so I uninstalled backup and reinstalled backup, now it cant seem to find any errors, but when i try to do a backup it now says this:
Backup started at '5/12/2008 11:00:20 PM' failed as Volume Shadow copy operation failed for backup volumes with following error code '2155348129'. Please rerun backup once issue is resolved

Any ideas?
Jason

Are you running MSDE or SQL on your server? Try stopping the service and rerun the backup and see if it works.

On my server if I stop the MSDE-instance backup will work, when it's running it won't.

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:11 PM

Hello,

Would you please also try if this problem remains when you run "backup once" and exclude the system volume? And would please let me know if you have ever seen any other errors or warnings related to VSS or Writers in the Application event log? Please ensure you have the latest version of Windows Server 2008 (should be RTM edition).

Based on some further research, this error code '2155348129' may be caused by the incorrect Active volume.

Please open the Disk Management console, located at "Server Manager\Storage\Disk Management" and see which partition has been marked as Active volume. If the Active volume is different from the volume in which you install the operating system, try changing the Active volume to the volume containing the operating system by using the following commands:

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator.

2. Run diskpart.

3. At the diskpart> prompt type "list disk" (without quotations), see which disks are listed there

4. At the diskpart> prompt type "list volume", see which volume is the volume containing operating system

5. At the diskpart> prompt type "select disk 0" <enter>.

6. At the diskpart> prompt type "select volume 2" <enter> (I assume the volume 2 is the volume containing operating system).

7. At the diskpart> prompt type "active" <enter>.

Note that this is just for a test and may lead to unbootable of your computer. Change the Active volume back to the previous one after this test.

Additionally, if you are using any iSCSI drives, disable the teaming NICs and see if it can work.

Best regards,

Chang Yin

Hi Chang Yin

I had the same problem as the previous poster and your suggestion about the Active volume (being the system drive C:) resolved the issue. Great! Thanks

That was it, that is what the problem was.
I cant believe they actually released this OS to manufacturing with such a huge bug, i have had this on any new 2008 systems I have installed, 5 in total so far.
Thank you!

Ok that fixes the backup, but then the server is not bootable after a reboot.
There is an EISApartitionthe OS creates before the actual OS partition, can this be deleted?

We're having the exact same problem with Server 2008 Standard 64-bit. I cannot successfully complete any backups with Windows Server Backup in its default configuration.

Event Viewer also displays error code '2155348129' but our System parition is correctly marked as Active already.

However, If I disable SQL Server VSS Writer in services.msc, the Backup successfully completes. I decided to stop this service when I noticed that its entry in 'vssadmin list writers' was marked as 'non-retryable error'

Naturally, I would like any and all SQL databases to be backed up successfully too. Where do I go from here?

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:11 PM

Just to follow up, I noticed that the one SQL database running on our server is MS_ADMT, which is related to the Active Directory Migration Tool.

I disabled this SQL service from starting up as we have finished our migration. Backups now complete 100% consistently.


I am worried though that, if in the future we introduce another SQL database application, the backups will begin failing again.

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:11 PM

I'm also having the same issue, Server 2008 x64.

In regards to the VSS writer status, it shows an non-retryable error on "SqlServerWriter". Any suggestion short of shutting down sql to backup? Does this mean Backup Service wouldn't allow you to backup if you have an SQL server running?

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:10 PM

Hi all,

IDid had same problem. my solution was i found the Backup manager disappear my Volume letterfrom my computer when you schedule backup so i went to disk management and assign letter to my backup volume then right click on the backup volume and choose properties choose shadow copies tab->click enable on backup volume.

then i did backup again and works for me.

• Proposed as answer by Helnix Saturday, July 26, 2008 6:47 PM

I am having the same problem, ie Windows Server Backup under Windows Server 2008 fails if the SQL Server VSS Writer is running. I stopped it, and the backup runs fine.

Should I just disable the VSS Writer for SQL Server? This server just has some SQLEXPRESS databases on it, I assume they will back up ok since they are just files (if not open).

Is there a better solution for this, doesn't the SQL VSS Writer work with the installed backup under WS2008?

Thanks..

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:10 PM

Don -

thanks you are the man!! I have been pulling my hair out with this total redesign and cluster called Server 2008 and Exchange 2007. After reading your post I realized I was trying to get SQL 2005 to run on the server to run of all things ForeFront. Well since ForeFront doesn't work on Windows 2008 server with Exchange 2007 installed...well maybe it does but you would have to kill yourself and heck it is cheaper to install something like Symantec or McAfee. Anyway to make a long story short, if anyone has this problem I got money that says you stop the SQL 2005 services or do like me and pull it off the server and it all works...well you know to some extent if you can call this new backup and Windows and Exchange working...thank god for Microsoft...I will never be without a job as long as they are around!!

Adam

I am sorry but this is not the answer. It might be good for testing but it doesn't fix the problem. What use is a fix that makes the system unbootable?

The problem, for my new build x64 Windows Server 2008, was resolved by simply restoring the drive letter to the USB drive, that the Schedule Backup wizard had insisted on removing.
The decision to enforce the drive letter being removed should surely be reviewed.

I'm encountering the same issue.

MS DPM 2007 is failing to back a machine that is running SQL Express 2005.


Is there a way to get this to work?

Thanks,
Brien

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:09 PM

Hi Jason

To get around it I just use a batch file with:

Net stop "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)"

And either schedule it 2 minutes before the scheduled backup or as part of the pre-backup commands.

After the backup finishes i just run

Net start "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)"

from another batch file.

I don't know if this will be an acceptable workaround but it's better than nothing for me at the moment.
I'm sure a patch or fix will be released one day. It may just be that the server 2008 VSS writer is not compatible with SQL 2005 express.

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:09 PM

Good day!

I have problem with backup on windows server 2008 with SQL 2005 Express too. I am trying to find solutions from summer till now, but not found it. For backup I am use the same work around as TFK NZ, difference is that I am not waiting until backup is finished for starting SQL 2005 Express. The command for starting SQL 2005 Express runs after 5 minutes after backup is started. Backup work fine. This mean that delay for SQL Express is 5 minutes, but this is work around. If someone has solution for this issue, please, post it in this forum.

Thanks,
Oleg.

• Proposed as answer by Chris - [MSFT] Friday, December 12, 2008 3:09 PM

I saw the same problem on a box that was running SQL and found that it is resolved with the hotfix:

934396FIX: Error messages and an event may be logged when you use the Virtual Device Interface in SQL Server 2005 or in SQL Server 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;934396

I used the compat version of the fix as it looks like this is a backwords compatibility problem. Hope this helps someone else too.

Hi,

I am glad it worked for you, but I don't think this is what I am suffering from:

1. I am on SQLServer 2008, this hotfix is for SQL 2000 and 2005.
2. That is not the error being reported (see above)

I have this same issue where Windows Server Backup fails if the SQL VSS Writer is enabled. Here is my configuration:

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 running as a Virtual Server under Hyper-V
• SQL 2008 Standard installed on this server
• Microsoft DataProtection Manager (DPM) 2007 installed on a seperate server to backup this servers SQL datbases and system state

Basically, the the DPM job to backup the system state on this server would continually fail with the following (and very ambiguous) message:
Replica is inconsistent

So, in order to troubleshoot, I ran the following command to manually backup the system state on the server itself using the Windows Server Backup program (bypassing DPM's commands):

wbadmin start systemstatebackup - backuptarget:C:

This command then fails with the following error:
Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error (0x800423f0) the shadow-copy set only contains only a subset of the volumes needed to correctly backup the selected components of the writer.

The event viewer also has an error under the source of Backup stating:
Backup started at '<time>' failed as Volume Shadow copy operation failed for backup folumes with following error code '2155348129'. Please rerun backup one issue is resolved.

I can then stop the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service, rerun the same command to start the system state backup, and the backup completes successfully. If i turn on the SQL Server VSS Writer, the backup fails again. So basically, the SQL VSS Writer and the Windows Backup VSS Writer won't work together. When will a patch be available to fix this as right now my only option is to either automatically backup the SQL databases or the system state, but not both.

I'm having this issue as well - I can't get a system state backup on SQL Server 2005 SP2 with the KB934396(316205) hotfix running on Windows Server 2008 using DPM 2007 (or manual system state backup either).

I had the same errors:
Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error (0x800423f0) the shadow-copy set only contains only a subset of the volumes needed to correctly backup the selected components of the writer.

and

Backup started at '<time> ' failed as Volume Shadow copy operation failed for backup folumes with following error code '2155348129'. Please rerun backup one issue is resolved.

In my case the issue was with a missing disk in disk manager. I had replaced the backup hard drive and assigned the old drive letter to the new drive, however after that the backup started to fail. I checked the disk manager and I saw the old volume and drive listed as missing. After I remove them, wbadmin started to work again.
The backup disk in both cases was set as Dynamic.

All the writes are fine and succeed when i type in the "vssadmin list writers" command except for the first one which is a sql writer which gives a retryable error. Please advise on the troubleshooting steps about solving it

Best regards,

Augustine

• Edited by Lindani Augustine Ndlovu Friday, June 05, 2009 8:40 AM type in error

Having the same error here when I try to backup the System State on Win2008 x64. The same workaround of disabling the SQL VSS Writer Service allows for this backup to run without issue.

Shouldnt this service be running when I perform a backup so that SQL will also be included in the backup? After all, isnt that the point of the service?

Anyone figure out a fix or better workaround to this issue?

Thanks!

Upgraded to Windows 2008 R2 and getting the same error.

The backup operation that started at '2009-09-11T03:00:13.753000000Z' has failed because the Volume Shadow Copy Service operation to create a shadow copy of the volumes being backed up failed with following error code '2155348129'. Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

Running the list command I get an error with the following.

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
Writer Instance Id: {b43ba1fb-a4d7-4469-9474-c18dcd1adf54}
State: [5] Waiting for completion
Last error: Unexpected error

This machine is running Hyper-V but I'm not trying to backup any of the images. Also it happens even if I'm not trying to backup the System State. I'm just trying to back up some folders on a volume that isn't the same as the boot OS and it still fails.

SQL 2008 is also on this server and I tried stopping it with no luck.

Any ideas?

I'm also running Server 2008 R2.

And my backup off virtual machines doesn't work.

I only backup specific directory's with vhd's.

and when i try : vssadmin list writers

i get

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'

Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}

Writer Instance Id: {d3ca8ec5-934b-448c-8022-5f39a12f43ee}

State: [5] Waiting for completion

Last error: Non-retryable error

I had this problem also on Server 2008 and when i did a safe state of all my virtual machines backups are working fine.

I've been into the same problem for almost a month now and just 10 min. ago I started to write a question when, luckly, I've fixed here.

So, take a look, it might help you...

My physical server is called MASTER.
MASTER is a Windows 2008 R2 STD server with Hyper-V, Intel NIC Teaming and Windows Backup and 4 VMs running total. I did a full install (windows server) into MASTER.

3 VM's are for Windows Essential Business Server (called MANAGEMENT, MESSAGING and SECURITY).

The MANAGEMENT server also runs SVN and File Sharing and for that I have a dedicated bypassed HD (one physical HD)
All sharings, folder redirection for users and SVN are inside the bypassed HD but the MANAGEMENT server is installed into a VHD file.
Both MESSAGING and SECURITY servers are installed into VHD files.

I have also one VM for 2008 R2 STD (called RDS) that I use for software development.
Since I need a good performance inside RDS, I have installed it directly into a bypassed HD.

The problem starts when I need to backup both bypassed HD's.
Using it just like this gives me NO ERROR. At least for now and I just finished a backup right now.

But if I create a VHD file and passed it into the RDS server, windows backup crashes if I try to do a backup with VM running.

Seems to me that VSS got confused since this VM is installed directly into a bypassed HD (and for that it's not supposed to be included into the MASTER (physical) server's backup) but the VHD it uses for it's own backup IS inside MASTER main HD and, for that, the VHD file is marked for backup.

Just check out for some related situation.
It might help.

• Proposed as answer by Professional IT Wednesday, April 24, 2013 1:02 AM

Note to self : In future read the whole reply before executing instructions.

I'm suffering the described problem on my development/build server, exactly as described. Windows Backup failing big time on 2008 R2, and I have all updates installed on the box.

After googling I started reading this thread, and eventually came to the response by Chang Yin dated 15th May 2008 which appeared to be giving information which could fix the problem. So I followed the instructions and committed the changes. As far as I could tell I didn't have any disk/volume marked as active (none were listed as being active) before I executed the instructions.

Then I got to the bit at the end which stated "this could make your system unbootable". Oh great. I wish I'd read that bit before I followed the instructions - I'd have at least double-checked the active status!

I also agree with comments made about how a problem this serious could have got thru manufacturing. My backups have been failing for weeks (if not months), that's due to me not checking to make sure and I'll happily take the criticism about that. I installed Microsoft Accounting on this box about 4 months ago and that put the 2005 database on there (and then Microsoft ditched Microsoft Accounting).

Incidentally, executing the instructions given in this thread did NOT fix the problem for me. I have SQL Server 2005 and 2008 installed on the box and I'm now in the process of removing both (it's not a production server so this isn't harmful to my business). I'm sure I will be finding out real soon that having changed the active disk/partition/volume as per instructions given that the server won't come back up, and then I'll be into a re-installation (probably fixable from a boot disk or something but I haven't re-installed this server in a good while and it must be time to consider that option again).

Andrew

Further to my last submission, the server backed itself up overnight exactly as required, no errors reported.

I just tried to access the server via Remote Desktop and it wasn't connecting. As I haven't got the physical means of logging in (no keyboard/monitor connected) I power-cycled the box and it rebooted fine. That's a huge 'phew' you can hear in the background.

Now I'm going to re-install SQL Server 2008 to see whether the backup will still work afterwards.

Looks like Microsoft is just plain dodging this question, I'm having the same issue where I cannot get a system state backup to run with the SQL VSS writer active. I'm gonna see if I can open up a PSS case and let you guys know. This is simply unacceptable for a backup solution, especially considering this is a fully Microsoft solution.

Hi,


"To fix this the only thing I found is to re-install sql server or at least the vss writer compnent. re-installing sql server fixed this backup issue for me. the server with backup issues is windows server 2008 64 bits , sql server 2005"

My previous post on this topic:

"here too we have the same issue, sql server vss writer is in "not retryable error" mode identified after "vssadmin list writer" command and backup fails unless sql server vss writer is turned off. this server used to backup successfully. 

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {c0a8a0de-8d7a-4ba7-abe0-fe9a2af552c3}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: Non-retryable error

yes indeed MS is doging this big time (they probably dont know much about it; I bet the guy who knows  is probably playing basket ball in redmond; hopefully they can find him).

It does not seem to be any administrative ways to reset/fix the state of this VSS writer successfully; not an exciting thought when it comes to business critical process such as system backup.

Turning off the sql server vss writer service works around this issue and let you backup your server but leaves you the system admin questioning if the sql server backup db on your server can be restored successfully: As i read it somewhere: "using the sql server vss writer is the only way to ensure all transactions are succesfully written to the vss volume and therefore the backup while sql server instances are running". 

As some suggested when the vss writer for sql server is turned off as a work around, it is a good idea to stop the sql server DB instances so no-one can use them until backup is completed. Turning-off sql server instances may not be practical for all business; it would depends on service level agreement and service availibility requirements. I never had this issue with server 2003 and sql , obviously we had a myriad of other issues and they are probably still applicable to 2008 as when it comes to their core O/S dlls and application such as the ESE all have been around for 10 years+  and yes they all have the same potential for file corruption: ntfrs, ms exchange 200x, dhcp, dns, AD, sql server, etc or all of them at once.  But the vss writer issue seems to be new to server 2008.

as Won Choi said: "This is simply unacceptable for a backup solution, especially considering this is a fully Microsoft solution."

so MS will you find that guy playing basket ball and tell him to give us a solution to this?

Hello Mister MS!! listen: Your backup on server 2008 is not only overwhemingly complicated in design, but it does not work either. Hello wake up!. Also I really start to get annoyed with all these dialog box that are supposed to show us the details of errors and events in the logs, they are all too small and cannot be resized. in 2008 some new ones even use a listview control and you can't even see a single line in the list. WTF. what are we chickens?

have a nice day!"

• Proposed as answer by Olivierb Bogart Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:06 PM

 Hi all,

I Did had same problem. my solution was i found the Backup manager disappear my Volume letter from my computer when you schedule backup so i went to disk management and assign letter to my backup volume then right click on the backup volume and choose properties choose shadow copies tab->click enable on backup volume.

then i did backup again and works for me.

Because it stood out as being elegantly simple, I choose Helnix's solution, but only partially...and it worked. I assigned a drive letter to the drive that MS had taken for backup in 'computer management', 'disk management'. I was trying to backup SBS2008 to a USB drive and got this error being discussed. I'd read in the MS docs that when MB took over the drive for backup use, it would also remove it from Windows Explorer view. Now I know what that means, and so restoring a drive letter to the drive solved the problem for me. I did the full and one incremental in quick succession, so I know that it does both successfully. Horrah!

So amazing, but so stupid. Gota love Microsoft....

Hi,

I have the same problem with Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter when backing up Hyper-V VMs. Windows Server 2008 R2 does not have the previously stated situation quated "Backup manager disappear my Volume letter from my computer...". Therefore, the simple solution does not work for the R2. 

Windows Backup Server works Ok when I back up non-Hyper-V contained disks and volumes. Windows Server Backup failed backing up a 1.5TB volume that contains Hyper-V VMs with the following error message:

"ERROR - The shared restore point operation failed with error (0x81000101)
The creation of a shadow copy has timed out. Try again this operation. Timed out before the shared protection point was created."

"vssadmin list writers" command in cmd showes:

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Instance Id: {145d52f2-caca-470b-97e3-0a61dce6717a}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

In my observations, Windows Server Back took three VMs to start backing up Hyper-V in my system. The three VMs were turned to "Saved" state, backup, "Starting" state in subsequence. The first VM and the second VM were "Starting" Ok. However, the third VM failed before turned to "Starting" state. The third VM contains large VHD files. Windows Server Backup may be thus "Timed out" as stated in the error message. How can I extend the time-out paramter?

In addition, I also realized that Windows Server Backup can only back up a volume upto about 2TB. The limit is not well documented. The size is unrealized small for a modern server. Windows Server 2008 R2 should be a cutting edge system. We however did not expect to use it as a toy.

Olivierb Boqart said "Hello Mister MS!! listen: Your backup on server 2008 is not only overwhemingly complicated in design, but it does not work either. Hello wake up!.". I totally agree with him. Be prepared to be uneasily sleepless with Hyper-V R2 running in production line.

I have a question. I am using server 2008R2 and have VSS enable the the Registry setting enable to allow Windows server backup to backup the Virtual Machines 2 are server 2008R2 X64 and the other is Server 2003 R2 X64 the problem is when the Backup starts it puts the machines in a saved state mode. According to all the info it says it should not have to put the machines in a saved state. is this a bug with server 2008R2 X64? I would like to get this working to keep my machines always online during a backup. they all go down for about a min while saving. Please help find a solution

I had this same error and after reading the previous entries here, I stopped the 3 Hyper-V services and ran the command line wbadmin start systembackupstate and it succeeded.
When Windows Server Backup began failing (probably when I installed Hyper-V) I switched to the 3rd party backup SynchBack. It works as expected, but apparently fails to mark the system state as backed up, because my event logs, after 90 days, began recording errors on event 2089, stating the directory partition had not been backed up.
So I was happy to find the workaround for this condition. I will continue to use Synchback and then do a manual System State Backup every month.

Hey,

I had the same issue and solved it by enabling the automounter. Details here:

http://bonkel.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/windows-server-backup-failed-creation-of-shared-protection-point/

Kind Regards

Jared

• Proposed as answer by Garyhamb Sunday, March 20, 2011 4:01 PM

Hello any update on  this one? I have the same problem and troubleshooting

leads me to : (via vssadmin list writers)

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'

   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}

   Writer Instance Id: {d3ca8ec5-934b-448c-8022-5f39a12f43ee}

   State: [5] Waiting for completion

   Last error: Non-retryable error

But no solution. I have made one good backup and  now I can't backup again.
Please some feedback.

How did you fix the server unbootable problem? I followed the same path :S

My C: partition is Dynamic. Is this the reason the "active" step above fails?

Note SBS08 and has backed itself up successfully for over a year. It stopped a couple weeks ago with errors listed above.

Resolution? I deleted all schedules backups in Scheduled Tasks...

Answered on the TechNet Wiki: Troubleshooting VSS Writer Failure

As an experiment, I took this question and the posted answers and published them to our TechNet Wiki. Let us know what you think of this (do you like the format?), and feel free to make further edits and additions to the wiki topic. Thanks!

• Proposed as answer by Jason Gerend_MSFTMicrosoft employee Monday, July 26, 2010 10:52 PM

Hi there,

I was facing same issue in windows server 2008 R2 & tried all possible ways i found on internet. Finally I am able to take backup of VMs in Hyper-V. This is what i did:

- If you ever used snapshot feature in hyper-v better you shutdown that VM for 20 minute or so & you will see "merge in progress...' in status under hyper-v manager. Wait to complete this process.

- I prefer you shut down all VM for sometime so that this snapshot merge process complete for all VMs

Once you see all VMs post shutdown processes are completed, start all VMs. Now you can take backup again & it should work. It worked in my environment.

Thanks,

Naren

I had the same problem but the only solution for me was to create this bat file .

Run FIXVSS.BAT to reset VSS configuration.
rem FILENAME: FIXVSS03.BAT
rem
net stop "System Event Notification"
net stop "COM+ Event System"
net stop "Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider "
net stop "Volume Shadow Copy"
cd /d %windir%\system32
net stop vss
net stop swprv
regsvr32 /s ole32.dll
regsvr32 /s oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 /s vss_ps.dll
vssvc /register
regsvr32 /s /i swprv.dll
regsvr32 /s /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s stdprov.dll
regsvr32 /s vssui.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml4.dll
Cd /d %systemroot%\syswow64
regsvr32 /s ole32.dll
regsvr32 /s vss_ps.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s stdprov.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml4.dll
net start "COM+ Event System"

After everything was done right .

• Proposed as answer by Garyhamb Sunday, March 20, 2011 3:53 PM
• Unproposed as answer by Garyhamb Sunday, March 20, 2011 3:53 PM
• Proposed as answer by Andrzej Kmicic Wednesday, May 13, 2015 8:48 AM

My backups were running well for over a year, when they ceased to run on 3/1/11 (during the previous year I upgraded to S2k8 R2).  There appears to have been updates installed on that day, none of which seem to be related to anything to do with backup.  The only way that i could backup the 2 local volumes was to shut down all VMs, then perform the backup.  I could backup either of the 2 volumes (one is the boot volume, both contain VHDs) by themselves without shutting down any VMs.  

I finally found the above submission:

Hey,

I had the same issue and solved it by enabling the automounter. Details here:

http://bonkel.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/windows-server-backup-failed-creation-of-shared-protection-point/

Kind Regards

Jared

Enabling the automount FIXED the problem.

Thanks to Jared!!

 

I was getting same kind of error massage when I was running NTBackup on Windows server 2008 R2 server.

 

The backup operation that started at '?2011?-?07?-?08T02:36:25.328000000Z' has failed because the Volume Shadow Copy Service operation to create a shadow copy of the volumes being backed up failed with following error code '2155348129'. Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

 

I had two servers server1 & server2. I installed Windows server backup feature on both server and Command-line Tool on server1 only. I checked the system state backup for both servers and got successful backup for server1 only. Then I installed Command-line Tool on server2 and got successful backup for this server.

In my case, this solve the problem:

 

I install the SQL Server 2008 R2, SP 1 Then:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/07/06/potential-issues-after-installing-sharepoint-foundation-2010-sp1.aspx

 

• Proposed as answer by Roberto HH Friday, July 29, 2011 4:21 PM

I've been struggling with the same issue on several sites with Windos 2008 R2.  Diabling the VSS SQLwriter certainly works but seems a bad workaround.   I would appreciate someone from Microsoft coming online and solving the issue as it's eating up alot of my time and potentially putting at risk my customers businesses if they ever require a restore.

Seems the only safe option may be to invest in a good third party product like Storecraft.   

 

 

The more I have to fix these stupid air mattress problems, the more I understand why so many of my SBS clients eventually decide to simply STOP TAKING UPDATES.   Microsoft's products have gotten so big and so poorly structured that any attempt to fix a problem or add a feature in one area is all but assured to break something elsewhere in the system (like an air mattress, push it here, it pops up over there).  Microsoft seems to have outsourced break testing to their customers!

Try running the SharePoint configuration wizard again.   I know that there is nothing in the logs to indicate that this is the issue, but I spent a lot of time with the same problem and finally fixed it by allowing SharePoint to upgrade after an update sent down by MS.  After the Wizard completes, the backup starts working.

 

 

I am trying to do a SystemState backup on a DC that also has Arcserve 12.5 installed with SQL Express 2005. I get the error:

Backup started at '5/09/2011 9:30:07 AM' failed as Volume Shadow copy operation failed for backup volumes with following error code '2155348129'. Please rerun backup once issue is resolved..

After much trolling through Google and many different suggestions I decided to stop the SQL service, run the backup then restart the service.  I created the following CMD script that helped resolve the issue.

SC QUERY MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB | find "MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB"
if ERRORLEVEL 1 Goto RUNBACKUP
:SQLEXISTS
Echo MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB Exists
SC STOP MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB
:: Wait a few seconds before proceeding

@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 2 -w 1000 > nul
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n %1% -w 1000> nul
:RUNBACKUP
wbadmin delete systemstatebackup -keepVersions:2 -quiet
wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backupTarget:D: -quiet
SC QUERY MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB | find "MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB"
if ERRORLEVEL 1 Goto END
Echo MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB Exists
SC START MSSQL$ARCSERVE_DB
:: Wait a few seconds before proceeding

@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 2 -w 1000 > nul
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n %1% -w 1000> nul
:END
Exit

 

Hope this helps others have a similar issue.

I don't know if anyone is still having this issue.  But I was having it on a SBS 2011 evrytime I ran a backup.  It was obviously a VSS error, but unclear what writer was causing the issue.  Ends up a SPsearch error in my event log, which a Microsoft article said can be ignored,  was the cause of the whole backup failure. 

SOLUTION

I ran the Sharepoint 2010 Configuration Wizard from Start>All Programs>Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products> Product config. wizard.  Go thru the upgrade/update (do not change any server info, you're just updating the software- note your SP site will be down durin the upgrade about 15 minutes).  Finish the wizard, close SP Foundation, and try to run the Windows Backup again.  Mine worked perfectly. after the upgrade

• Proposed as answer by Rion Alexandre Thursday, October 13, 2011 3:29 PM

Hi Paul,

I have been struggling with this issue for the last 2 weeks and a lot of documentation on the internet pointed towards a disk parition problem, however the event log showed that it was a VSS problem. All I can say is never under estimate the value of the event log in diagnostics!!

 

My solution to my back up problem which was a VSS Writer problem was as you said run Sharepoint 2010 config and after that it worked fine, so to anyone using SBS and having this problem and you haven't done the Sharepoint config, DO IT! Will hopefully save you a lot of time and money!! (I lost many drinking hours to this server!)

Cheers,

 

Dan

Thanks a lot PaulNYC33! That also worked for me!

I was able to fix this by simply changing the VSS service for sql to logon as the administrator account then the error code 2155348129 stopped showing up and the backups worked.  I also tried the drive letter suggestion and the active drive suggestion.

• Proposed as answer by Walter Matesa1 Tuesday, December 20, 2011 7:24 PM

Thank you so much Paul!!!!  I have wasted days trying everything to get the backup to work.  I never would have thought to do this.

• Edited by ArmchairQB2000 Wednesday, December 14, 2011 10:25 PM

Thanks Paul, worked like a charm!

Fixed windows server backup VSS error 0x800423f0

Thank you sooo much.  This simple change worked for me as well. 

Thank you so much! This solution worked perfectly. I was looking for a solution for this problem for weeks!

THX

 as you said run Sharepoint 2010 config and after that it worked fine

I ran "vssadmin list writers" and saw that there was one error with my Hyper-V VSS Writer:

riter name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Instance Id: {6a5ca811-5687-4463-8fdf-e1a3ff0271e9}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: Inconsistent shadow copy

I found one hotfix but it does not work.   Any advice?

My issue was.

Whenever doing a system state back-up, I would receive an error ID 512 stating that:

The backup operation that started at 'bla bla' has failed because the Volume Shadow Copy Service operation to create a shadow copy of the volumes being backed up failed with following error code '2155348129'. Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

Fixed it applying this hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2457458

Thank You

With Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 the Reserved System Volume must be active for the system to boot.  If you change this, fine, but do not reboot the system.  You will find yourself in a recovery command prompt changing it back.  Not good for a production server.

After having this issue for the past month and disabling SQL VSS Service as a workaround I decided to have a fight with the event logs!

I picked the first four errors we were encountering and went though them. Our server has sharepoint 3, sql server 2005 and exchange 2007.

First to happen (warning)

Event ID 2436 - Windows share point search 3 services

This error is caused by Windows Backup Pausing the Sharepoint.

Second (warning)

Event ID 2442 - Windows share point search 3 services

This error is caused by Windows Backup Pausing the Sharepoint.

Third (Error!)

Event 3041 - MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE

This error is caused by the WSUS SQL ##SSEE We stopped the service to test the outcome.

Fourth (Error)

Event 24583 SQLWRITER

This error suggests that the SQL Browser is disabled or needs restarting. We restarted this process before dealing with 3041 above and tested It did not make a difference.

Disabled MSSQL ##SSEE and it Ran! I am a lot happier with this workaround.

Sharing is caring.

• Proposed as answer by Supa-Dan Thursday, December 27, 2012 12:25 PM

thank you, this fixed the issue.

Supa-Dan

Based on your comments I enabled the SQL Browser service and it fixed the issue for me! Thanks so much for the idea. You know I love this community. I often times find more effective solutions here than directly from MS! Seriously man, good job!

This is no longer a problem for us but i am glad the outcome was good for you!

Took me long enough to work it out!

The joys of Microsoft I guess

Do MS have released Fix by now for fixing this VSS issue, or we have to live with stopping SQLWriter service and taking systemstate backup.

Also it is seen that below errors are seen in eventvwrs; May be there could be SQL related patch which can fix this issue

Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling IDBInitialize::Initialize. hr = 0x80004005. SQLSTATE: HYT00, Native Error: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0
Error message: Login timeout expired
SQLSTATE: 08001, Native Error: -1
Source: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0
Error message: A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online.
SQLSTATE: 08001, Native Error: -1
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0
Error message: SQL Server Network Interfaces: Error Locating Server/Instance Specified [xFFFFFFFF].
DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE: DBPROP_INIT_CATALOG: master
DBPROP_AUTH_INTEGRATED: SSPI

Cause :

TCP/IP, Named pipes and Browser service is in disabled state, hence SQL VSS writer is not able to connect SQL instance on the server.

Solution to this issue is  :

1. From SQL server configuration manager SQL Server Network Configuration Protocols for MSSQLSERVER, do below modifications :

1. Enable TCP/IP
2. Enable Named Pipes
3. Enable SQL Browser Service

Restart SQL Server Service so that changes gets effected from SQL server configuration manager SQL Server Services.

Keep SQL VSS writer Service is in running mode.

Try taking  backup.

• Proposed as answer by Mr Gem Wednesday, April 03, 2013 1:27 PM

Thanks Nitin, This worked for me , Cheers :)

Symtoms :

1) vssadmin list writers missing taking hell lots of time

2) Errors in event viewer :Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling IDBInitialize::Initialize. hr = 0x80004005. SQLSTATE: HYT00, Native Error: 0,Source: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0

• Proposed as answer by Mr Gem Wednesday, April 03, 2013 1:28 PM

uninstall Forefront Protection for Exchange, I had the same problem and i resolved it with the uninstall of forefront.

This worked for me.  After I ran this, the error...state 5 waiting for completion last error retryable error...went away.  I even got an error when it couldn't stop one of the services.  It still fixed it.  I have done a ton of research on that error.  This is the only fix I found (Short of restarting the server.)

I ran into this problem and it took me forever and a day to chase it down. None of the above proposed solutions worked. I am running a Win 2008 server w/ SQL 2008 in Hyper-V on a 2008 R2 host (cluster)



I ended up tracing it down the the VM having insufficient memory (believe it or not). SQL it appears tries to backup all of the DBs at once and it basically overwhelmed the server. 



Since this was a developer server with about a hundred databases I dropped a number of them that were no longer needed and it started working again. Then it happened to me on a production server - where dropping DBs isn't an option. That is also a VM so I just increased the memory allocated to the VM and that fixed it there too!



In my case I tracked it down to the number of worker threads SQL was creating during the backup process - and having insufficient memory to service them all. So there are really 2 possible walls I was hitting. One is the max number of worker threads SQL was allowed to create. The second being system memory available to service those threads. 

Now some are probably asking - how did you track it down to server memory when NOTHING seems to indicate that's the problem? Let me tell you - it wasn't easy! 



But check out this thread:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/4faff249-0639-4898-918c-6b0a5b1f9017/windows-server-backup-fails-when-sql-vss-writer-service-is-running?forum=sqldatabaseengine



I found it very helpful.

solution is OK, windows7 pro. backup started and finisched no-problem...

Thanks

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator.

2. Run diskpart.

3. At the diskpart> prompt type "list disk" (without quotations), see which disks are listed there

4. At the diskpart> prompt type "list volume", see which volume is the volume containing operating system

5. At the diskpart> prompt type "select disk 0" <enter>.

6. At the diskpart> prompt type "select volume 2" <enter> (I assume the volume 2 is the volume containing operating system).

7. At the diskpart> prompt type "active" <enter>.

 

Note that this is just for a test and may lead to unbootable of your computer. Change the Active volume back to the previous one after this test.

Best regards,

Chang Yin

So what do we do to actually FIX it if this test appears to make it work? I just did this and it appears to be backing up OK, but want it to work without me doing this every time I need to backup. Thanks for any additional info you can offer!

• Edited by MickBurke 5 hours 52 minutes ago