VSS Writer errors during SBS Backup

You need to install all of these hotfixes 940349, 949391, 951568 & 957778 and reboot each time and then re-register the vss binaries.
This has solved my problem on more than one occassion.
Hope this helps

I installed all these hotfixes & re-registered the VSS binaries.  Backup completed last night.  I'll award points if it completes successful 2 more nights.

Glad it is working, I've had this problem many times in the past few months, and it took me 6 hours with different support personnel and finally this resolution it has never failed me, so it is now my standard recommendation with this issue. With Server 2008 you just install SP2 and it resolves this problem. But for some reason MS still only has the htofixes for 2003:-(.

Exact same error occured last night.

Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "Small Business Server Backup (02).bkf created 3/24/2010 at 8:01 PM"

Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.
Timeout before function completed

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:0x80042319.

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:80042319
Aborting Backup.

I hate VSS.

I've heard said before when it works its great and when it doesn't it ain't...geez.
Well one thing is that it got better before it stopped again so SP2 seemed to have helped.

See, it was already on SP2 before this started.  I swear every damn server I admin has VSS issues.  

Here's the error reported in the App Event log.  There was 8 of them in a row, all at the same timestamp:

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      VSS
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      6013
Date:            3/24/2010
Time:            8:13:13 PM
User:            N/A
Computer:      SERVER01
Description:
Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 2d 20 43 6f 64 65 3a 20   - Code:
0008: 53 51 4c 43 4f 4e 4e 43   SQLCONNC
0010: 30 30 30 30 30 36 33 39   00000639
0018: 2d 20 43 61 6c 6c 3a 20   - Call:
0020: 53 51 4c 43 4f 4e 4e 43   SQLCONNC
0028: 30 30 30 30 30 36 31 34   00000614
0030: 2d 20 50 49 44 3a 20 20   - PID:  
0038: 30 30 30 30 33 31 35 36   00003156
0040: 2d 20 54 49 44 3a 20 20   - TID:  
0048: 30 30 30 30 32 33 30 34   00002304
0050: 2d 20 43 4d 44 3a 20 20   - CMD:  
0058: 43 3a 5c 57 49 4e 44 4f   C:\WINDO
0060: 57 53 5c 53 79 73 74 65   WS\Syste
0068: 6d 33 32 5c 76 73 73 76   m32\vssv
0070: 63 2e 65 78 65 20 20 20   c.exe  
0078: 2d 20 55 73 65 72 3a 20   - User:
0080: 4e 54 20 41 55 54 48 4f   NT AUTHO
0088: 52 49 54 59 5c 53 59 53   RITY\SYS
0090: 54 45 4d 20 20 20 20 20   TEM    
0098: 2d 20 53 69 64 3a 20 20   - Sid:  
00a0: 53 2d 31 2d 35 2d 31 38   S-1-5-18

I'm sorry I got my last comments mixed up with another post:-).
We applied the hotfixes on the server 2003. Then that seemed to fix the problem for a night or two and now the problem is back, is that correct?

Only one night.  Last night it happened again.

One thing you need to check on, are the shadow copies being created on a separate drive or on their default partitions like c:\ or d:\.
In either scenario there must be enough space on each partition to complete the snapshot and backup. I've seen this before when using an external hard drive and using the wizard to schedule the backups.
Let me know if this is the case and elaborate on your exact setup.

C: and D: both are less than 40% full, so there's plenty of room for the Shadow Copies.

So my other question is are you using the SBS Backup wizard to create the backups and in that wizard there is an option for the number of backups. What is that number set to? What is the average size of your images after the backup completes.
Are you backing up to an external usb drive and what is the size of that drive.

I have it set to 2 copies.
Average size is 185GB.
I'm backing up to an 500GB ext HDD.

370gb stored on the ext hdd. What is the free space being report on that drive?
 

Only has 1 copy as the other failed.  The drive reports 289GB free.

I bet if you back the number down to 1 your problem will go away.
I have seen this before and this has usually fixed that problem.
If you want to store more backups with that size image I would go with a 1TB drive.
You have to have enough storage to hold the existing backup copies and then enough to create and hold the temporary image until the backup is finished. That is the way I understand it. But usually backing down the number by one usually rectifies the problem.
Hope this helps.

Will do.
What a fickle little B**** it is.
I'll report back tomorrow.

LOL, yep I learned the hardway to figure this out :-).

Didn't work. Exact same VSS error happened.
I'm going to point the backup to our Terastation & see what happens.  I don't have any other options right now.

Sorry I haven't been of more help. Let me know how it goes with the new drive.

I'm getting the following errors when I run "vssadmin list writers"

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {6bd62267-1811-438f-8538-b6ab56ba772c}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {26363543-333f-48e8-9f7a-dba851423414}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
   Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
   Writer Instance Id: {81b309a7-d925-4d22-b166-e0ee37867324}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'FRS Writer'
   Writer Id: {d76f5a28-3092-4589-ba48-2958fb88ce29}
   Writer Instance Id: {96a3bf47-284f-4dab-a133-5f8eb8d0c02b}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Dhcp Jet Writer'
   Writer Id: {be9ac81e-3619-421f-920f-4c6fea9e93ad}
   Writer Instance Id: {180f58b1-29ac-4ebd-bc6d-7f4c0408aea1}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {176039cb-4c07-42fc-bd97-3cf336fd6719}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WINS Jet Writer'
   Writer Id: {f08c1483-8407-4a26-8c26-6c267a629741}
   Writer Instance Id: {3ce1692a-2172-4359-8c10-6b5fbcb12821}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {0980230a-f33c-460d-adf3-3340ee538465}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
   Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
   Writer Instance Id: {e4dec435-e881-4ac1-a94d-2f6c70d354f9}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {3b78c4ba-8595-41f9-8cc2-37669d3756aa}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
   Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
   Writer Instance Id: {c173d16f-d9ff-4d00-91fd-3b818dfa0cc1}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'NTDS'
   Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}
   Writer Instance Id: {29a08911-050e-4ce4-a3d7-cd22059e133e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {6fdf94cd-2c3e-44c0-a5d3-8a7e981694c2}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Any indication of what I should do?  Backups continue to fail w/ the same errors BTW.

Reboot the server and try the command "vssadmin list writers" again.

I will reboot midday & report back w/ the "vssadmin list writers" output.

I rebooted.  No change.  Failed last night w/ the exact same errors.  VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS don't have any errors now though:

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {74d891b1-21d2-4b0a-acb5-f96933c632d0}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {d172e9c9-f7a1-40ea-a2a4-ffc937e6e9ba}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
   Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
   Writer Instance Id: {cd4884b0-930d-4198-9670-58a2ba4f40c3}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {ba1baa4e-c1b8-4441-8f66-476a3d3bbea6}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
   Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
   Writer Instance Id: {f9a0c958-abbc-4fa4-9b4e-7cfd46b64bc6}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'FRS Writer'
   Writer Id: {d76f5a28-3092-4589-ba48-2958fb88ce29}
   Writer Instance Id: {eb6a36f5-61ce-4efb-baa7-5f90b95d1d6e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {ef279ae3-1c80-42b9-8e84-0ea533ee4001}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {aa7f5fa1-cb51-4801-bbea-dcb9fc1d187e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'NTDS'
   Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}
   Writer Instance Id: {91aa12c6-b070-496a-b567-779519309f02}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {8d295291-550a-4f54-a236-a33e7ff9232e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WINS Jet Writer'
   Writer Id: {f08c1483-8407-4a26-8c26-6c267a629741}
   Writer Instance Id: {17636ac1-0c16-421b-adbf-6f4c2c85a0ca}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Dhcp Jet Writer'
   Writer Id: {be9ac81e-3619-421f-920f-4c6fea9e93ad}
   Writer Instance Id: {bb4f037f-a24b-40de-be19-96d95d9cb61d}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
   Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
   Writer Instance Id: {6fa5df1f-9acc-4e48-b449-6c313dd9186b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

I'm sorry you're still having problems, this thing is a pain I know.
I looked back over the comments and couldn't determine whether this was SBS 2003 or SBS 2008?
At least the vss binaries look good now:-).
I've had this problem before and I've never had this hard of time resolving it.
Lets try these things:

Clear the logs in event viewer.

Set VSS in services to automatic.

Uninstall the antivirus on the server.
Reboot the server.

Something could be causing the cpu usage and memory usage to run high and that is why you are having the timeout.
Once we determine the backups are working then we can reinstall the antivirus to see if the problem stays away.
Hope this helps.

Thanks CC.
I'll have to set time aside to do this after hours, as these users never leave their desks for a second.
"Hey guys, I need to reboot the server.  It'll only take 5 minu..."
"NOOOO!!!  DO IT AFTER WE LEAVE!"
When the HELL am I supposed to be "off work" then!!!!???

I'll let you know the results here.

NP, Trust me I hear the same thing all the time, LOL.  Reboot at 12:00am they say :-).
I looked back over the comments and couldn't determine whether this was SBS 2003 or SBS 2008?

SBS 2003

Last night's scheduled backup failed (as they have continued to, but w/ a different error code:

Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.
Timeout before function completed

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:0xffffffff.

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:ffffffff

Even failure with a different result is progress :-), I've seen this error and it is a somewhat different I'll check and let you know :-)

I told you it was different, sorry couldn't get straight back with you, been busy :-).
I always say even defeat is progress as long as the results aren't the same :-)))

Since I changed the TIME SBSBackup runs, it completes every time.  It runs & completed 100% at 9pm, but if it's set to run at 8pm it failed.  There's no tasks running at this time that I can see.
So basically, I don't know why it's completing at different times, and I don't know why it's failing if set to run at 8pm.

That is very strange, how did you figure out changing the time would work? Just a fluke? :-).
Yep, I would be very suspicous of why that is happening, but hey at least it's working and now you can maybe figure out what else was happening at 8pm. You might want to peruse the events to see if you see anything in there.

It was a fluke.  I actually don't remember why I changed the time.
I can't find anything going on at 8pm that could affect VSS.  No scheduled tasks, no errors in any event log & no other software is using VSS at that time.  Dunno!