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VSS Writers commands to fix the issues

Here we are going to discuss VSS Writers’ commands to fix the issues

We often see VSS writers issues wherein VSS writers get unstable or fail and that causes the System State backup to fail. So, here are some basic commands that need to be followed to fix the issue

Open the Command prompt and type vssadmin list writers (to list all writers with their current status) so if you see any of the writer has “failed” or is in a “waiting for completion” state then we need to follow the below steps:

Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

Type the following commands at a command prompt. Press ENTER after you type each command.

cd /d %windir%\system32
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
vssvc /register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
regsvr32 vssui.dll
regsvr32 msxml.dll
regsvr32 msxml3.dll
regsvr32 msxml4.dll

Perform a backup operation to verify that the issue is resolved.

For more Info :- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940032

It is not necessary that it will refresh the VSS writers. However, you can retry the system state backup.

For Windows 2008 servers, you can try below steps:

1. Stop the Microsoft Shadow Copy Provider & Volume Shadow Copy Service (run net stop “Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider”)
2. Export the contents of the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\EventSystem key to a .reg file (as a backup).
3. Delete the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions key. (Just delete the Subscriptions subkey; leave the EventClasses key.)
4. Restart the server. “This causes the VSS entries in the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions key to be rebuilt when the writers initialize.”

Then try to run the following command for system backup and complete the system state backup. Please don’t cancel it in between otherwise system writers will be in a “waiting for completion” state:

wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backupTarget:D: (D: is the second partition of the server. However, you can change the drive letter accordingly)

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Ravi Chopra

With 19 years of hands-on experience in the IT industry, I’m passionate about sharing the knowledge I’ve gained across a wide range of technologies. Specializing in Active Directory, Azure, VMware, Windows, and Linux, I am dedicated to empowering IT professionals and enthusiasts with practical insights and solutions.

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VSS Writers commands to fix the issues

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