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VSS Writer Failed / How to Restart and Re-Register VSS Writers - Connect IT Community | Kaseya
<main> <article class="userContent"> <h2 data-id="issue"><strong>ISSUE</strong></h2> <p>VSS writers can fail for various reasons, such as two or more resources trying to use the writer at the same time. When you run vssadmin list writers in a command prompt with admin rights, you might see one of the writers in a failed state, as shown below:</p> <pre class="code codeBlock" spellcheck="false" tabindex="0"><strong>vssadmin list writers</strong> Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer' Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de} Writer Instance Id: {c35d6ab0-9588-412f-ae7b-cdc37534501f} State: [8] Failed Last error: Retryable error</pre> <h2 data-id="resolution"><strong>RESOLUTION</strong></h2> <ol><li> <span style="font-family: Arial;">On the Windows server in question, open a command prompt with administrative rights and run the command </span> <pre class="code codeBlock" spellcheck="false" tabindex="0">vssadmin info vssadmin list writers</pre> </li> <li><span style="font-family: Arial;">Check the writers that have failed. </span></li> <li> <span style="font-family: Arial;">You can use the list below to find the service that corresponds to the VSS Writer in question. Restart the corresponding windows services for the writers that are down.</span> </li> <li> Use the <span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>vssadmin list writers </strong>command again to show if the vss writer is now in a stable state. </span> </li> <li><span style="font-family: Arial;">If the vss writer remains in a failed state, you will need to re-register the writers. </span></li> </ol><p> </p> <table><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">VSS Writer</th> <th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Service Name</th> <th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Related Windows Service To Restart</th> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ASR Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">VSS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Volume Shadow Copy</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">BITS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">BITS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Background Intelligent Transfer Service</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Certificate Authority</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">CertSvc</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Active Directory Certificate Services</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">COM+ REGDB Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">VSS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Volume Shadow Copy</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DFS Replication service writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DFSR</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DFS Replication</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DHCP Jet Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DHCPServer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">DHCP Server</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">FRS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">NtFrs</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">File Replication</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">FSRM writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">srmsvc</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">File Server Resource Manager</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">IIS Config Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">AppHostSvc</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Application Host Helper Service</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">IIS Metabase Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">IISADMIN</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">IIS Admin Service</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Microsoft Exchange Replica Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">MSExchangeRepl</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Microsoft Exchange Replication Service</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Microsoft Exchange Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">MSExchangeIS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Microsoft Exchange Information Store</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">vmms</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">MSMQ Writer (MSMQ)</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">MSMQ</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Message Queuing</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">MSSearch Service Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WSearch</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows Search</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">NPS VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">EventSystem</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">COM+ Event System</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">NTDS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">NTDS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Active Directory Domain Services</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">OSearch VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">OSearch</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Office SharePoint Server Search</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">OSearch14 VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">OSearch14</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SharePoint Server Search 14</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Registry Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">VSS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Volume Shadow Copy</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Shadow Copy Optimization Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">VSS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Volume Shadow Copy</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SMS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SPSearch VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SPSearch</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows SharePoint Services Search</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SPSearch4 VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SPSearch4</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SharePoint Foundation Search V4</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SqlServerWriter</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SQLWriter</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">SQL Server VSS Writer</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">System Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">CryptSvc</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Cryptographic Services</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">TermServLicensing</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">TermServLicensing</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Remote Desktop Licensing</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WDS VSS Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WDSServer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows Deployment Services Server</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WIDWriter</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WIDWriter</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows Internal Database VSS Writer</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WINS Jet Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WINS</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">WMI Writer</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Winmgmt</td> <td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Windows Management Instrumentation</td> </tr></tbody></table><h2 data-id="notes"><strong>NOTES</strong></h2> <p><a href="/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fkaseya.vanillacommunities.com%2Fkb%2Farticles%2Faliases%2Funitrends%2Fhc%2Fen-us%2Farticles%2F360013160717" rel="noopener nofollow">This KB</a> contains some additional steps to follow from Technet and other related Microsoft VSS subsites.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </article> </main>