To troubleshoot VSS errors, run vssadmin list writers in the command prompt to get a list of VSS errors. Then find the VSS Writer name that has the error in the table below:
VSS Writer |
Service Name |
Service Display Name |
ASR Writer |
VSS |
Volume Shadow Copy |
BITS Writer |
BITS |
Background Intelligent Transfer Service |
COM+ REGDB Writer |
VSS |
Volume Shadow Copy |
DFS Replication service writer |
DFSR |
DFS Replication |
DHCP Jet Writer |
DHCPServer |
DHCP Server |
FRS Writer |
NtFrs |
File Replication |
FSRM writer |
srmsvc |
File Server Resource Manager |
IIS Config Writer |
AppHostSvc |
Application Host Helper Service |
IIS Metabase Writer |
IISADMIN |
IIS Admin Service |
Microsoft Exchange Writer |
MSExchangeIS |
Microsoft Exchange Information Store |
Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer |
vmms |
Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management |
NTDS |
NTDS |
Active Directory Domain Services |
OSearch VSS Writer |
OSearch |
Office SharePoint Server Search |
OSearch14 VSS Writer |
OSearch14 |
SharePoint Server Search 14 |
Registry Writer |
VSS |
Volume Shadow Copy |
Shadow Copy Optimization Writer |
VSS |
Volume Shadow Copy |
SPSearch VSS Writer |
SPSearch |
Windows SharePoint Services Search |
SPSearch4 VSS Writer |
SPSearch4 |
SharePoint Foundation Search V4 |
SqlServerWriter |
SQLWriter |
SQL Server VSS Writer |
System Writer |
CryptSvc |
Cryptographic Services |
TermServLicensing |
TermServLicensing |
Remote Desktop Licensing |
WINS Jet Writer |
WINS |
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) |
WMI Writer |
Winmgmt |
Windows Management Instrumentation |
Once you have the service name, you know what to restart / troubleshoot to fix your VSS error.