AppAssure Replay backup reports Errors, ‘Unable to take VSS Snapshot of volume(s) because the VSS subsystem is in a bad state.’ or ‘Error taking snapshot of volume(s): AddToSnapshotSet failed when trying to add volume ‘C:’ – VSS Provider is not registered’

I found this to be a fairly common issue when deploying new Replay agents out to Windows 2003 servers. There are several things that should be addressed when deploying Replay agents to Windows 2003 Servers including repairing LSP, refreshing and / or verifying VSS states and removing conflicting software. I have had great success resolving these types of issues by following these simple steps.

#1  Remove Offending Software Conflicts

Offending Software:

Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent

Symantec Backup Exec Remote Agent for Windows

any 3rd party backup software

 

#2 Reset VSS Writers

I use a simple bat file that re-registeres all my VSS writers and then I follow that up with a reboot. Below is the bat script commands, copy them to a file, name the file vss.bat, then run the file. It should shutdown a few services and re-register the VSS writers.  reboot is needed after this has completed.

net stop “System Event Notification”
net stop “COM+ Event System”
net stop “Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider”
net stop “Volume Shadow Copy”
cd /d %windir%\system32
net stop vss
net stop swprv
regsvr32 /s ole32.dll
regsvr32 /s oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 /s Vss_ps.dll
vssvc /register
regsvr32 /s /i swprv.dll
regsvr32 /s /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s stdprov.dll
regsvr32 /s vssui.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml4.dll
net start “COM+ Event System”

#3 Repair the Layered Service Providers

Layered Service Provider (LSP) is a feature of the Microsoft Windows Winsock 2 Service Provider Interface (SPI). A Layered Service Provider is a DLL that uses Winsock APIs to insert itself into the TCP/IP protocol stack. Once in the stack, a Layered Service Provider can intercept and modify inbound and outbound Internet traffic. It allows processing of all the TCP/IP traffic taking place between the Internet and the applications that are accessing the Internet (such as a web browser,  email client or Replay agent.).

This is a common problem in Windows 2003 especially if you use Kaseya agents on these systems. The kaseyasp.dll causes some issues with transferring the file across the network. Luckily this is a really easy fix. Download and run LSPFix.exe on the Windows 2003 Server system. It will find the Kaseya Dll issue and repair it for you.

#4 Verify no Disk Errors are present

This often overlooked but a simple “CHKDSK C:” at the command prompt will scan your disk and verify if there are any errors on your disk. Using the “/F” switch you can fix the errors. Make sure you have clean disks.

By following these steps you should resolve 98% of your common backup issues with Replay clients failing snapshots or not transferring the snapshot once it has been taken.

I hope this helps fellow AppAssure users out there in cybertown.

Enjoy

Cubert 😎