Well this server is almost a fresh install. i just have AD, DNS, WDS, and file server installed. also have the backup servace installed. i try to start a backup an everytime it stops almost instantlywith "A volume shadow copy servace operation failed.The backup of the volume was stoped before the backup started running" error. It starts to creat the shadow copy and then comes up with that error. i have tried to reinstall it but still comes up with that preoblem

Hello, Would you please let me know the exact error message on the error page? Or, are there any other messages shown? As a general trouble shooting step, would you please run the following commands to see if the output contains any errors? Vssadmin list writers Vssadmin list providers Then, open the Event Viewer to see if any error or warning is logged there, under Windows Logs\Application, Windows Logs\System, Application and Services Logs\Microsoft\Windows\Backup, relating to Windows Server Backup and VSS. Would you please take a look at the Disk Management to see if the partition that contains the system is marked Active? We have seen some similar issues if the disk contains some hidden partitions. The problem may also occur if, the system volume is either hidden or it has no volume name. Or, if possible, would you please capture the screenshot when the problem happens so that we can better understand it? You can send the screenshot to tfwst@microsoft.com Note: a. Please include the following three lines for this issue in the email body: Windows server backup stoped before starting http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winservergen/thread/f5e53544-3a00-4863-a5bf-594b3310c4f2 Chang Yin - MSFT b. We will continue to discuss the issue here in the forum and will NOT reply via emails. c. Please post a quick note in the current thread to inform me after sending the email. Best regards,Chang Yin

Thanks for the help so far...Ok here are the logs and errors. C:\Users\Administrator>Vssadminlistwriters vssadmin1.1-VolumeShadowCopyServiceadministrativecommand (C)Copyright2001-2005MicrosoftCorp. Writername:'SystemWriter' WriterId:{e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220} WriterInstanceId:{8dfcf295-e971-4db8-a9b5-5ae85a94d845} State:[7]Failed Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'FRSWriter' WriterId:{d76f5a28-3092-4589-ba48-2958fb88ce29} WriterInstanceId:{b5de3e4c-5866-4e80-8818-286dfb493466} State:[7]Failed Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'ASRWriter' WriterId:{be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4} WriterInstanceId:{026d40ad-23d8-4f80-a838-248f06329c0c} State:[1]Stable Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'WDSVSSWriter' WriterId:{82cb5521-68db-4626-83a4-7fc6f88853e9} WriterInstanceId:{a45c9022-fc01-4c7a-b39a-ab5a44d18946} State:[7]Failed Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'RegistryWriter' WriterId:{afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485} WriterInstanceId:{b898d1e1-1004-4b8a-9048-571bc2b1f9d0} State:[1]Stable Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'ShadowCopyOptimizationWriter' WriterId:{4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f} WriterInstanceId:{2765d430-6cc3-4c3d-a82f-8cd0cd9acd13} State:[1]Stable Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'COM+REGDBWriter' WriterId:{542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f} WriterInstanceId:{81194d78-cc00-4936-9b0f-845411856fa0} State:[1]Stable Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'BITSWriter' WriterId:{4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0} WriterInstanceId:{d4f1055e-4a0d-4d2e-87de-105b9fc02963} State:[1]Stable Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'NTDS' WriterId:{b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757} WriterInstanceId:{5df7bc16-f02c-427e-9a6a-1989edacb8b7} State:[7]Failed Lasterror:Noerror Writername:'WMIWriter' WriterId:{a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0} WriterInstanceId:{58bc6a95-6265-462e-8fcc-c9f6ee0cfd5d} State:[7]Failed Lasterror:Noerror C:\Users\Administrator>Vssadminlistproviders vssadmin1.1-VolumeShadowCopyServiceadministrativecommand-linetool (C)Copyright2001-2005MicrosoftCorp. Providername:'MicrosoftSoftwareShadowCopyprovider1.0' Providertype:System ProviderId:{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} Version:1.0.0.7 Backupstartedat'8/6/20085:00:04AM'failedasVolumeShadowcopyoperationfailedforbackupvolumeswithfollowingerrorcode'2155348129'.Pleasererunbackuponceissueisresolved. ShadowcopycreationfailedbecauseoferrorreportedbyASRWriter.Moreinfo:Incorrectfunction.(0x80070001). VolumeShadowCopyServicewarning:ASRwriterError0x80070001.hr=0x00000000. Operation: PrepareForBackupevent PrepareForBackupevent Context: ExecutionContext:ASRWriter ExecutionContext:Writer WriterClassId:{be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4} WriterName:ASRWriter WriterInstanceID:{4a0bb80e-cd7b-4b5c-abb0-bc6a1124ca6a} Backupstartedat'{b0d9e2d8-c6f9-4648-b24b-77fad27bc6e4}'failedasVolumeShadowcopyoperationfailedforbackupvolumeswithfollowingerrorcode'2155348129'. Also the drive is not marked as active, it is enabled but i thought activating it wouldkill the operating system.

Hello, Thank you for the logs and the screenshot. These information are helpful. This is a known issue when you are using the OEM partitions. You can also find that the first partition is OEM partition if you run "diskpart", "select disk 0" and then "list part". The system partition should be marked active so that the Windows Server Backup can read information there. However, sometimes when you create the partition and install the operating system with OEM tools, the OEM partition will be created and marked active. This could cause the backup fail. This is the same issue that we saw in Windows Vista, but poses a huge problem in Windows Server 2008. Not only does it break full backups, but also system state backups. For now, there is no hotfix or official workaround for it. You can try the method that I mentioned in another post, but manually changing the active partition may cause potential problem or even result in an unbootable system: http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/9cf42e8a-2a33-47c5-a797-269330e9ba1a/ I would highly suggest that you contact the manufacturers and work with them to change the active partition. This is because the OEM partition may contain some useful information (including drivers) to boot your system. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Best regards,Chang Yin

Hello,We are having the same issue with our new servers. Will there be any follow-up from MS about this? We currently cannot create full backups, this is a huge issue for us as these new servers are running our AD, DNS, etc and it would require a huge workload to rebuild them without the OEM partition.

I had this same issue on a Dell PowerEdge T105 server purchased for home use. I did NOT use the Dell OEM installation disks, as my copies did not support Windows Server 2008.In my case, I booted directly to the Windows Server 2008 x64 DVD and performed a bare metal install. That said, there is a small OEM partition on the disk that I did not delete during Windows setup and it was marked as active. I simply marked my C: volume in Disk Management as active and was able to perform the backup...actually, it is backing up right now. Once it is complete, I will attempt a reboot and report the results. I'm thinking worst case scenario, the system may not boot due to having two active partitions. (I doubt this will happen, but it's possible.) In this case, I plan on booting to the Windows DVD and deleting the OEM partition.YMMVRegards,Darren SargentRiverside Technologies, Inc.http://www.riverside-tech.net

Darren,I have a Dell PowerEdge R200 and must be in exactly the same boat as you. I seem to have a small 55MB OEM partition marked as active and at the present time I cannot backup my WS2K8 server. A tad worrying since it isin the ADS, DNS.. etc.. roles.I was wondering how you got on after your backup completed and you came to reboot the machine.Ideally I'd like to remove this OEM partition completely. But (in the best catch-22 situation) would like to take a backup first. Doh!--Nick

Seems like this was first discovered almost 6 months ago. Still no fix? I am very weary to try this since I don't see any confirmation that this won't cause the server to not be bootable. And it's a catch-22 since I can't take a backup in case it isn't bootable (though I suppose we can probably boot to the recovery console and undo it). Can anyone report on whether they had success changing the active partition?JeffJeff Graves, ORCS Web, Inc.

All, My apologies for not following up. Yes, the procedure I described above did work. The backup went fine and I was able to reboot without incident.Regards,Darren

Awesome, thanks for letting us know Darren. I'll be trying this on a bunch of servers during our next maintenance window.Jeff Graves, ORCS Web, Inc.

Ran into same issue, luckily it is in a test environment. My server is a virtual 2008 R2 Enterprise server installed inside ESXi. I did not use OEM media. When I changed the C: partition to Active and rebooted the server failed to see a boot drive. I used the vSphere client to attach the virtual drive to a 2008 Server in the same host and changed the smaller partitions back to active and the server booted again. I will be looking for a different backup solution.