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Chip LevinsonFlag for United States of America

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Problems with VSS are Preventing Backups of SBS 2003

Hello,

I am having problems with VSS on a PowerEdge server that is running SBS 2003.  I use three different programs to backup the server.  First I use NTbackup to backup the OS partition, system state, and Exchange database.  Then I use Backup Exec 12 to backup all of my files.  Finally, about six months ago I installed Acronis True Image Echo Server to backup the whole system for a potential bare metal restore.  

For months everything was working fine.  Then I started to get error messages in BackupExec.  I explored this issue in another question entitled "Backup Exec Error Resolution Points to Non Existent Registry Key".  During this time NTbackup was working fine.  It was pointed out that the Acronis VSS service could be causing conflicts.  Rather than uninstall Acronis, I went into Services and disabled the two Acronis services (one was VSS).

I tried to run NT backup and it failed for the first time.  The error log is below:

Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "Small Business Server Backup (manual).bkf created 3/27/2012 at 1:08 AM"

Volume shadow copy creation: Attempt 1.

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:0x8004230f.

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:8004230f
Aborting Backup.

I next went into System Event viewer and was greeted by a sea of red error messages - all related to VSS.  Here is the details from the latest of these messages:

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      VSS
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      12292
Date:            3/27/2012
Time:            1:08:46 AM
User:            N/A
Computer:      THEORACLE2
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error creating the Shadow Copy Provider COM class with CLSID {5fc845eb-f299-40f0-9725-34045f7ea8ba} [0x80070422].

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: 43 4f 52 48 57 50 57 43   CORHWPWC
0010: 30 30 30 30 30 33 30 36   00000306
0018: 2d 20 43 61 6c 6c 3a 20   - Call:
0020: 43 4f 52 48 57 50 57 43   CORHWPWC
0028: 30 30 30 30 30 32 34 32   00000242
0030: 2d 20 50 49 44 3a 20 20   - PID:  
0038: 30 30 30 30 31 34 32 30   00001420
0040: 2d 20 54 49 44 3a 20 20   - TID:  
0048: 30 30 30 30 36 35 36 38   00006568
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

Can anyone help me resolve this issue and get my backups working again?  

Thank you!!!!
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Hi Gordon,

Thanks for responding so quickly!

First let me answer your question - I have Acronis True Image Echo Server with Universal Restore, build 8.398.  An IT consultant installed it for me - he had several unused licenses.  I know it is a little out of date - but I plan on upgrading my server soon and want to have an Acronis image of the server before I do the upgrade.

I am not familiar with MS VSS.  I do see a service named "Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider".  Is this what you mean?  It is currently set to manual and is NOT running.  I want to be sure this is what you want me to start before I do so.

I also see a service called "Volume Shadow Copy".  This service is also set to manual and is currently stopped.  The note says if it is stopped, backups may fail.  Should this be set to auto and should I start it?

Thanks!
Gordon,

I went ahead a restarted the two services, Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider AND Volume Shadow Copy.  They both stayed running.  The backup still failed.
More news - I ran "vssadmin list providers" from a cmd prompt and found two providers - Microsoft and Acronis.  I thought by disabling the service the provider would not be running.  Is there some way to disable the provider without uninstalling Acronis?
Gordon,

It is 2:30 am my time and I need to pack it up for the night.  I hope to hear back from you in the morning.
Could you please confirm is the server running as a virtual machine?
Hello,

No, the server is not running as a virtual machine (as far as I know).  Someone else set it up - but it appears as a single server.
Hello,

Here is so more information.  I have been looking into this all morning as I very much want to resolve the problem.  I found a thread that referred someone to the following KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940349

"Availability of a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) update rollup package for Windows Server 2003 to resolve some VSS snapshot issues"

I ran Belarc Advisor on my server and searched for 940349 - it was not listed as being installed.  

KB940349 also stated:

This update replaces the following previously released updates:

    KB931312
    KB940041
    KB940239
    KB940252
    KB939989

I searched for the above 5 patches and none of them have been installed.  Should I install 940349?
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Since applying http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940032 a week or so ago everything has been working! :)