Volume Shadow Copy Error 0x80042304 - provider not registered

Error code

Product

Applies to

BA903

BackupAssist

BackupAssist

Description

Volume Shadow Copy Error 0x80042304 - provider not registered

Resolution

Below is a set of solutions for many of the common Volume Shadow Copy Errors that may occur during a backup. Review the solutions and follow the ones that apply to your system and the error that you have encountered.

At the end of this section, is a section specifically for Hyper-V backups.

Solution 1 - Check if multiple backup applications are installed

Many backup application have their own proprietary snapshot manager which can cause conflicts with other backup solutions installed on the system. If you have (or had) more than one backup program installed on your system, disable / uninstall all of the programs except for BackupAssist NextGen, and run the backup job again.

It is best practice to only have one backup solution installed at any one time.

You should also run a registry cleaner after the other backup solutions have been uninstalled.

Solution 2 - Check for failing VSS writers

If the reason for the error is a failing VSS writer, it's recommended to find which one is causing the issue.

To do this, open an elevated command prompt and run the following command: vssadmin list writers

This will provide an output of all VSS writers known to Windows on that machine. Check the Last Error and State output specifically. If Last Error is anything other than No Error then there is an issue with that writer. State should always show [1] Stable.

Writer name: Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer
Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
Writer Instance Id: {f3fffb87-bb45-45dc-bda8-24501bab7de1}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: Unexpected error

A simple reboot of the machine may resolve this problem. If the issue persists, it could indicate a larger issue occurring with the system.

Solution 3 - Make sure that the Volume Shadow Copy Service is not disabled.

You can check by opening the list of running services. Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services.

Solution 4 - If there are Volume Shadow Copy errors within Event Viewer

VSS can write additional information to the event logs of your system which will provide information to help resolve the issue.

Open Event Viewer by clicking on Start > Run > Eventvwr to see if there are any specific VSS or SPP warnings or errors being generated from the system during the backup process. You will specifically want to look at the Application and System logs.

The VSS service within Windows writes a lot of information to the Event Viewer, which is a great resource for finding the root cause of this error. Check the Event Viewer by selecting on Start > Run > Eventvwr. See if there are any specific VSS or SPP warnings or errors being generated from the system during the backup process.

Solution 5 - If the problem is that the SQL Agent is not allowed to run

This is generated because the SQL writer has conflicts with the SharePoint VSS writer.

It is known that removing the GUID entry from the following registry key resolves this error:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SOFTWARE/ MICROSOFT/ MICROSOFT SQL SERVER/ SHAREPOINT/ SQLSERVERAGENT

Stopping the SQL VSS Writer Service can also resolve this error.

To do this, browse to Administrative Tools > Services and find SQL Server VSS Writer in the list. Once located, click on Stop to the left hand side of the Services screen.

Solution 6 - High Disk activity when the backup job is running causing 'writer not responding' error

High disk activity during the snapshot process can cause issues with the snapshot process that generates this error. For example, a conflict with the snapshot creation can result in the snapshot manager having trouble determining a cutoff point for the snapshot.

To resolve this, it is recommended that you re-schedule your backup for a time where there is less disk usage. It is also recommended that you perform consistency checks (such as chkdsk) on the drive(s) which are in the backup set.

Solution 7 - If a time-out errors occur in Volume Shadow Copy service writers

Refer to this microsoft article, if a "Time-out errors occur in Volume Shadow Copy service writers, and shadow copies are lost during backup and during times when there are high levels of input/output"

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/826936/time-out-errors-occur-in-volume-shadow-copy-service-writers-and-shadow

Solution 8 - If the Shadow storage on the source drives is not configured or not large enough.

VSS requires space allocated to each volume to be able to create and store snapshots. The steps to configure shadow copies varies between operating systems, so it's advised to check Microsoft's knowledge base for the steps specific for your OS. The steps and commands to alter the shadowstorage on any given volume are uniform across operating systems.

The shadow storage size can be checked and manually changed through command prompt.

  • To check the current limit set: vssadmin list shadowstorage
  • To change the limit: vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=X: /On=X: /Maxsize=XX%

This will resize the limit to XX percentage size for the X: drive.

We generally recommend 30% for shadowstorage size to be able to avoid most errors related to Shadow Storage.

Solution 9 - Insufficient space allocated for snapshots

Microsoft recommends that you allocate at least 50MB for snapshots on partitions smaller than 500MB. This is explained in this forum posting.

Option 1

Check the amount of space allowed for the snapshot storage on the 100MB system partition and increase it. Re-run the backup after you have done so.

Option 2

Another options is to allocate sufficient VSS shadow storage space on another permanently attached volume that has free space (and always will).

Option 3

This problem can also be caused by the USN journal leaving information within the system reserve partition.

Solution 9 - If backing up mapped network drives

The Windows VSS service can only create snapshots of drives connected locally to the machine that you are taking the snapshot of.

This error can be generated if you attempt to perform a snapshot of a network drive that is seen' as local within Windows (e.g. mapped network drive).

To resolve this, remove the network drive from the backup and then re-run the backup job.

Solution 10 - If a previous VSS snapshot is still running

Microsoft's native snapshot manager is only able to perform one snap shot at a time. If a snapshot process is already running when the backup job starts, the backup job could fail. Stopping and restarting the Volume Shadow Copy service can resolve this problem.

To do this, open an elevated command prompt window and run the following commands:

net stop vss
net start vss

A reboot of the server has been known to clean up the snapshot manager correctly should a service restart not resolve the issue.

Solution 11 - Scheduling Conflict

This section explains VSS and device conflicts. Refer to the section applicable to your issue.

VSS conflicts: Having two backup jobs running at the same time within BackupAssist can cause errors if both backup jobs are trying to run VSS. Ensure that only one backup job is running at any one time.

Hardware conflicts: Conflicts with backup devices can occur when another process is trying to use the backup destination at the same time as BackupAssist. Make sure that there are no scheduled tasks, particularly backup tasks, that run at the same time as your scheduled backups.

To confirm that this is a scheduling issue, try running a backup during the day,, or try changing the scheduled time of your backup by a few hours. If these backups work, the problem is likely to be a scheduling conflict.

Solution 12 - If destination drives not formatted in NTFS

If your destination drive is not formatted in NTFS, this can cause a conflict with the snapshot process which causes this error.

Make sure the backup destination is compatible with the NTFS format. Please view the following article on how to convert a drive to NTFS format: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

Resolutions for Hyper-V

The solutions below are for Hyper-V Server and Hyper-V guest (VM) backups. Solutions for other types of backups are in the next section.

(missing or bad snippet)

Hyper-V solution 1 - Re-initialize the guest's Volume Shadow Copy Requester service

This solution applies when error 0x8004230F is mentioned in a Hyper-V-VMMS event log entry with id 10150 for a specific guest, or when this error number is shown during a failed VSS backup inside a guest.

  1. Log into the Hyper-V guest (VM).
  2. Delete registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Providers\{74600e39-7dc5-4567-a03b-f091d6c7b092}.
  3. Restart the service 'Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Requester' or restart the guest.

Warning: Changes to the registry should only be performed by an experienced Systems admin. Mistakes can render the system inoperable.

Hyper-V solution 2 - Change the Production checkpoints to standard

This is a known issue for pre-2016 Domain Controllers running in VMs on 2016 / Win10 Hypervisors. The problem may be related to the new Hyper-V Production Checkpoint architecture.

To resolve this problem, in the VM's settings, change from Production checkpoints to Standard on guests that are domain controllers running pre-2016 OS, when the Hyper-V host is running Windows Server 2016.

Hyper-V solution 3 - Review the VMMS logs

This error can occur if there is a VSS problem within the guest operating system preventing the Hyper-V VSS writer from successfully backing up the guest from the host level. The cause can be found by looking for errors in the Event Viewer, particularly VSS or SPP events, which will most likely be the cause of a failure within the host. To do this, open the Event Viewer on the guest machine, however instead of browsing to Hyper-V VMMS, browse to Windows Logs > Application.

To view the Hyper-V VMMS logs:

  1. Click the Start button.
  2. Click Control Panel.
  3. Click System and Maintenance.
  4. Click Administrative Tools.
  5. Double-click Event Viewer.
  6. In the left hand navigation window, browse to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Hyper-V-VMMS.

Solution 4 - when error 0x80070490 is mentioned in a Hyper-V-VMMS event log entry with id 10150

This has been seen on hosts running Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016.

To resolve this error, temporarily disable the "Backup (volume checkpoint)" integration service and run a test backup of the guest. If this succeeds, re-enable the service and the next backup of the guest should continue to succeed.

Last updated

Created

Further assistance

28th June 2018

20th Aug 2007

BackupAssist Support page