This article is created in order to make clear understanding of service processes and guide through Windows settings problems as troubleshooter. There are many requests from users that have problems with VSS service using Paragons products. The most of these products are built with Paragon Hot Core that is nothing inferior to Microsoft’s VSS. Paragons Hot Processing has established itself as a reliable service that is failsafe to use. We highly recommend using this service instead of VSS.
Enabling Paragons HotCore
This service is not included in installation process by default so it should be included manually. Please open Control Panel – Programs and Features, find your product in list. Select “Modify” in installer the wizard to add the feature.
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Then it is required to change backup settings and set it as described on next picture.
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These steps will provide you with fast backup or copy of locked partitions and disk even while they are in use.
Volume Shadow Copy Service
The first symptom that indicates that none of services was started is notification “restart is needed”, it means that program can’t get access to some files that are in use. It is safe to perform operation restarting Windows, all operations will proceed before Windows booting. There are two possible reasons for such behaviour:
- Some software operates with these files or files are opened and there is no possibility to proceed before they are closed. In this case, choose option “what files prevent operation completion” as described below and “close all opened files…” even if the list is empty (some of them could not be shown).
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- VSS is not started. First, we should be sure that the service is started. Navigate to computer management – services and applications – services – volume shadow copy – set it to “manual”. It means that VSS will be permanently started in your OS.
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Sometimes we could get errors during backup such as
It always appears due to filesystem or disk errors. This usually results from subtle errors in file system data. Windows does a good job in ignoring them, but our programs can’t always do that. You need to correct them with the Windows CHKDSK tool.
1. VSS infrastructure Check
1.1 VSS Providers check:
Some applications integrate their own VSS providers and Microsoft VSS could be completely deactivated. To check which providers are installed or active, type in the command prompt following:
“vssadmin list providers”
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–> This command displays the provider name, type, ID and the version of each installed shadow copy copy provider
If there will be more then one provider presented it is required to perform registry checking.
– Go to Start -> Run -> regedit.exe and press ENTER;
– Navigate to this
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SYSTEM – CurrentControlSet – services – VSS – Providers
– Check, if you can find at the left part entries below Providers. There should be only one entry.
– Under every condition: Click on every entry and check in the right part, if you can find this entry: “Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0”. Do not delete this entry!
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For the other entries: Check if you can find any other VSS Providers entries and delete it.
– Restart the machine.
1.2 VSS Writers check:
There are different VSS Writers that provide shadow copy. Incompatibility in writers operating could cause different problems. To check whether a VSS Writer has a problemerror, type in the command prompt following:
“vssadmin list writers”
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–> This command displays installed VSS Writers and any errors reported by writers
1.3 Shadow copy storage allocation check:
Partition (that is chosen for shadow copy file operations) needs approx. 300MB of free space for storage and must be formatted to NTFS. To display information about shadow copy partition and usedallocatedmaximum space, type in the command prompt:
“vssadmin list shadowstorage”
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–> This command displays all shadow copy storage allocations
We can see that C: partition is assigned as Shadow copy storage partition.
1.4 Other VSS commands
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2. Simultaneous Backups:
The MS VSS provider cannot run several shadow copies at the same time. Check if some other program gets access to VSS service at the same time.
3. VSS is falsely in use:
It appears that VSS is in use and not accessible. Try to check it:
a) Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and proceed in the following path:
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SYSTEM – Setup”
b) Check whether the following Registry values are “0”:
“SystemSetupInProgress”
“UpgradeInProgress”
4. Some VSS *.dlls are corrupted :
Check if all VSS DLLs are installed and registered correctly:
Windows XP ONLY
- Open Command Prompt
- Type: CD %WINDIR%/System32 and hit enter.
- Run next commands in the following order:
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.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 - Reboot the computer.
Windows 7, Windows 8, Server 2008/R2, and Server 2012 ONLY
- Open Command Prompt
- Type: CD %WINDIR%/System32 and hit enter.
- Run next commands in the following order:
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” - Reboot the computer.
5. Also it would be useful to check the VSS services status.
a. Click Start and type Services and hit Enter.
b. Make sure these services are set accordingly:
c. Right click the services and click Properties.
– Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) – “Manual”
– Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider (SWPRV) – “Manual”
– Remote Procedure Call (RPCSS) – “Automatic”
– COM+ Event System (eventsystem) – “Manual” & “Automatic”
– System Event Notification Service (sens) – “Automatic”
– Windows Backup – “Manual”
Restart computer and check if the problem still exists.
6. Check if VSS snapshot can be created directly from Windows on the backup agent machine
Server OS:
- Go to My Computer -> Right click on any of internal volumes listed -> Configure Shadow Copies
- Select each volume you are trying to back up and click on Create shadow copy to confirm that there is sufficient free space on each volume. Otherwise set up the storage area for the volume.
- You can also use the vssadmin utility to run this check and create, increase or relocate the shadow storage
Windows Vista and later workstations:
- Go to Control Panel -> System – >System protection
- Select each volume you are trying to back up and click on “Create” button to create restore point. If necessary, configure protection for the volume and increase the size of the storage.
7. Windows events check
Go to Start -> Run -> eventvwr.msc. Navigate to Windows Logs -> Application and check for error messages related to VSS service. Search for solution in Microsoft Support articles, for example this arcticle
8. Virtual Machine
If the PC or server you are using is a virtual machine host, you need to install the latest VMware Tools (for VMware), Virtual Machine Additions (Virtual Server), on each virtual machine.
9. Windows Updates
Install the latest Service Packs and Updates through Windows Update.
Check Microsoft’s Support for hot fixes and other updates to repair VSS.
10. Backup excludes
VSS has some pre-defined exludes that can be changed in the registry to add or delete exludes and adjust content of resulting backup. Check this article.
If the following has not helped to resolve your VSS errors, we recommend you contact Microsoft Support for further assistance.