V-79-10000-11226 – VSS Snapshot error. The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshot provider selected returned: “Unexpected provider error”.
I was receiving this error in Backup Exec 2010 R3 while trying to back up a virtualized Exchange 2010 server. This error seemed a little odd, so first I ran VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS from the command prompt I verified all my writers were listed as “Stable” and all reported “No Errors”. I then ran VSSADMIN LIST PROVIDERS and immediately identified my problem.
I had two VSS Providers on my system. The first was the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider which I wanted to use. The second was the Symantec Backup Exec VSS Provider which was unnecessary. I was backing up a Server 2008 R2 server, so the built-in system provider from Microsoft is actually superior to the Symantec one.
The strange part is that the Symantec Provider only installs when you pick the Advanced Open File Option checkbox during the Remote Agent push, which I had done only a couple of days before. It was also a brand new server deployment so I was perplexed how the Symantec Provider was even present.
In any case, I knew it was for the best to remove the second provider. However, when I uninstalled the Remote Agent and rebooted the provider remained. So I did a little searching and thought I’d share the manual removal process for the Symantec Provider (and ultimately what was the fix for my error).
- Log onto the source computer that is reporting the error.
- Open a command prompt.
- Type VSSADMIN LIST PROVIDERS
- Find the Provider ID for the Backup Exec VSS Provider (see screenshot below – this only shows the Microsoft VSS Provider).
- Open the Registry Editor.
- Navigate to HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesVSSProviders
- Delete the registry key with the Provider ID found in step 4.
- Reboot the server.
- Reinstall the Backup Exec Remote Agent (do not check Advanced Open File Option).
- Run VSSADMIN LIST PROVIDERS again to make sure only the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider is present.
Srijith says
Hi Gareth,
I have a situation here. I have an exchange server 2007 sp3 running on Windows server 2003 sp2 on all the exchange servers. I have two mailbox servers which are in SCC. Whenever i run system state backup in these servers, the cluster resource fails.
Please find below the event logs for the same
Please find the event that gets generates during the issue,
Event Type: Error
Event Source: ClusSvc
Event Category: Failover Mgr
Event ID: 1069
Date: 6/2/2015
Time: 4:27:39 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DXB-MBX-01
Description:
Cluster resource ‘PBX-dxb-mbx-01’ in Resource Group ‘PBX-ClusterGroup-dxb-mbx-01’ failed.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Just before it fails we could see that VSS getting stopped,
Event Type: Information
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7036
Date: 6/2/2015
Time: 4:13:34 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DXB-MBX-02
Description:
The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the stopped state.
Please help me to find a solution for this…
I ran backup using ntbackup and symantec. Both gave the same issues. Symantec said it is a problem with VSS writer issue. Check with Microsoft 🙂
Gareth Gudger says
What do you see if you run VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS from command prompt. Do any of the writers show errors or show as unstable? If so, a reboot normally clears up most VSS errors. Unless they persist.