Server 2003 R2 vss errors

[mpd205]

I inherited a Windows Server 2003 R2 standard edition x86. After doing a bit of checking on it, I see it has not been backed up for some time. Drive C is handled by an Adaptec controller card and has 2 drives in Raid 1 configuration with total space of 68.2GB with 33GB free and fragmentation of 1%. Drive D is handled by a 3Ware controller card and has 9 drives in Raid 5 configuration (8 active, 1 spare) with total space of 7.27TB with 4.65TB free and fragmentation of 1%.

Using Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 (it is what our IT dept has for me, I do not have budget $ to upgrade).

And get VSS errors whether I try to use Backup Exec or NTBackup.

Backup Exec gives me "Snapshot error 1%".  If I click show details it gives

-Snapshot error %1.
--Error EBAB03F1: OS error 2147754767.

(UMI:V-281-1975-5)

I have tried the 2 articles linked in "show more help on the web" without any luck.

This is not a virtual machine, and there is no encryption software running on it.

When looking at either drive thru Windows explorer, properties, Shadow Copies tab it shows "Failed to retrieve volumes that are eligible for shadow copies. Error 0x8004230f: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process the specified operation."

If I check thru command prompt and run vssadmin commands I get the following.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>vssadmin list providers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Symantec Software VSS Provider'
   Provider type: Software
   Provider Id: {262b716e-bb23-41b5-aaef-e2c15e767167}
   Version: 1.0

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
   Provider type: System
   Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
   Version: 1.0.0.7

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>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: {0a076449-61f7-459b-8288-9684c8a6b860}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {1f5f638e-3bc0-430b-849e-17bf69b42b64}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'FSRM Writer'
   Writer Id: {12ce4370-5bb7-4c58-a76a-e5d5097e3674}
   Writer Instance Id: {1ee21ac2-2dd2-450b-87f9-e425b4ee599e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
   Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
   Writer Instance Id: {c8b96527-9328-4ce3-92ac-6efc995dbef5}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {c6e9592a-3a8a-4873-9589-4fb9072f045b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {0c50faba-aec4-4f76-96ad-d25c0b5066ca}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
   Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
   Writer Instance Id: {76fcde0f-d18b-4936-a3f6-1dd399630101}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {5ea9ac74-036c-44f3-bf52-684784c03131}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
   Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
   Writer Instance Id: {f02d80c6-e208-4e9e-9076-3032677fe594}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>vssadmin list shadows
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

No items found that satisfy the query.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>vssadmin list volumes
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process
the specified command.

Now if I look in the event log under Applications I see 2 errors showing.

Error 1

Source VSS. Event ID 12302. Volume Shadow Copy Service error: An internal inconsistency was detected in trying to contact shadow copy service writers.  Please check to see that the Event Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service are operating properly.

Error 2

Source VSS. Event ID 12293. Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on the Shadow Copy Provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. Routine details IVssSnapshotProvider::QueryVolumesSupportedForSnapshots(ProviderId,29,...) [hr = 0x8000ffff].

Checking error 1 event id 12302 is says to make sure COM + is set to Automatic.  It is set to automatic and is running. It also says to command prompt vssadmin list writers and verify none are reporting errors. None are reporting an error. It also says to check volume shadow copy in services. Start up set to manual, which it is and it will run with no problems.

Checking error 2 event id 12293 it says to use vssadmin create shadow for each provider. If I do that I get the same errors.

I have done a lot of research on this and found 3 hot fixes from Microsoft. None of the 3 apply to the error messages that I am getting. But to give it a good try, I have applied all 3 hot fixes and none made it better, and none made it worse (different error messages). I have also tried the following

 cd /d %windir%\\system32
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
regsvr32 Vssapi.dll
regsvr32 Vssui.dll

net start vss
net start swprv

The only errors I get when doing this is the following. 

"msxml4.dll not found"  I understand this as my system now has msxml6 and in doing some research msxml6 and msxml4 are not compatible and msxml6 replaced msxml4, so I can live with that, I guess.

"Vssapi.dll was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found. The file cannot be registered."

I am at a loss. Does anyone have any suggestions

[St123]

May try the tweaking utility. Search google for tweaking. I believe they have a vss repair option. Use at your own risk, but if your desperate it may be worth it. Vss can be a pain to fix

[mpd205]

Tried the tweaking tool.  Same issue.

Most all of the VSS errors I have been able to locate on Google, this site and others relate to the writers giving an error of some sort. My issue is I can't get VSS to do much of anything. If I use the vssadmin command line I can get the following errors.

list shadows - No items found that satisfy the query.

list shadowstorage -Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process
the specified command.

list volumes -Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process
the specified command.

add shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c:
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Error: Shadow copying the specified volume is not supported.

add shadowstorage /for=c: /on=d:
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Error: Shadow copying the specified volume is not supported.

So I am at a real loss. Cant get it going and can't backup files (unless copy or move) and that takes forever on a 3TB used volume.

Any other hints or tips gladly accepted.

[TRaj]

Most of the VSS errors get resolved by updating the VSS patch , you may have to look for one similar toyour OS and configuration.

Setting the limit of "Shadow copies" to no limit or extending the limit shall also help

[mpd205]

Have updated VSS with the hot fix patches, although none of them directly referenced the issue or error messages that I am getting. However, none of the atches made anything any worse or gave me new error messages, and none of the patches fixed anything.

As for setting the limit or removing the limit. I can't do that as the GIU part of being able to set/extend will not work. Also command line for setting/extending/removing the limit gives errors.

[TRaj]

I think you should open a support ticket to analyse the issue, it will be difficult to provide suggestion as it would require deep diving.

To open a new ticket refer : http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO31091