VSS Failures and Re-register of VSS Writers on Windows 2008 Server

      VSS failures and Re-register of Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Components
 

There are lots of VSS issues we see in our day to day server administration.

Some Scenarios we see regularly 

• Volume snapshots may fail with errors.
• VSS writer state might not be in stable.
• When running the VSS writers command, you will see that some writers are missed.
• Backup jobs will get failed with an error VSS failure etc etc.

Let us see how to rebuild the VSS writers

• Copy and paste the following into Notepad, then click Save As and save it as FIXVSS.BAT.

rem FILENAME: FIXVSS08.BAT
rem
net stop "System Event Notification Service"
net stop "Background Intelligent Transfer Service"
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 ATL.DLL
regsvr32 /s comsvcs.DLL
regsvr32 /s credui.DLL
regsvr32 /s CRYPTNET.DLL
regsvr32 /s CRYPTUI.DLL
regsvr32 /s dhcpqec.DLL
regsvr32 /s dssenh.DLL
regsvr32 /s eapqec.DLL
regsvr32 /s esscli.DLL
regsvr32 /s FastProx.DLL
regsvr32 /s FirewallAPI.DLL
regsvr32 /s kmsvc.DLL
regsvr32 /s lsmproxy.DLL
regsvr32 /s MSCTF.DLL
regsvr32 /s msi.DLL
regsvr32 /s msxml3.DLL
regsvr32 /s ncprov.DLL
regsvr32 /s ole32.DLL
regsvr32 /s OLEACC.DLL
regsvr32 /s OLEAUT32.DLL
regsvr32 /s PROPSYS.DLL
regsvr32 /s QAgent.DLL
regsvr32 /s qagentrt.DLL
regsvr32 /s QUtil.DLL
regsvr32 /s raschap.DLL
regsvr32 /s RASQEC.DLL
regsvr32 /s rastls.DLL
regsvr32 /s repdrvfs.DLL
regsvr32 /s RPCRT4.DLL
regsvr32 /s rsaenh.DLL
regsvr32 /s SHELL32.DLL
regsvr32 /s shsvcs.DLL
regsvr32 /s /i swprv.DLL
regsvr32 /s tschannel.DLL
regsvr32 /s USERENV.DLL
regsvr32 /s vss_ps.DLL
regsvr32 /s wbemcons.DLL
regsvr32 /s wbemcore.DLL
regsvr32 /s wbemess.DLL
regsvr32 /s wbemsvc.DLL
regsvr32 /s WINHTTP.DLL
regsvr32 /s WINTRUST.DLL
regsvr32 /s wmiprvsd.DLL
regsvr32 /s wmisvc.DLL
regsvr32 /s wmiutils.DLL
regsvr32 /s wuaueng.DLL
sfc /SCANFILE=%windir%\system32\catsrv.DLL
sfc /SCANFILE=%windir%\system32\catsrvut.DLL
sfc /SCANFILE=%windir%\system32\CLBCatQ.DLL

net start "COM+ Event System"

• Run the batch file as Administrator.
• After running the .bat file, reboot the server to bring all of the writers into a stable state.

Now let us test the VSS by performing a System State Backup

• open a command prompt as an administrator
• The command to start a System State Backup is: Wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:D:
  
  D: is the target drive where you wish to store the system state backup.

Once the backup is completed, you can conclude that VSS issue is fixed.


Note: Registering of DLL files on 2008 is not a recommended step as there might OS issues occurs if you try to register the DLL's manually.

Posted in Microsoft Windows