Volume Shadow Copy Error 0x800423f3 - writer error: retryable

Error code

Product

Applies to

BA953

BackupAssist

BackupAssist v6 and later

Description

One of the VSS writers that was being used during the backup has encountered an error.

Resolution

There are 2 possible resolutions for this problem

Resolution 1 - Find out which writer is failing

To find out which VSS writer is failing on your system, open an elevated command prompt window and run the command vssadmin list writers.

This will provide an output for each VSS writer that is currently available on the system. 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. If the issue persists, it could indicate a larger issue occurring with the system.

Resolution 2 - Check Event Viewer for further information

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. To learn more, see this video about these specific event logs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76u-MML-h9w.

Also make sure that the Volume Shadow Copy Service is not disabled, and that no other 3rd party VSS providers are interfering with the backup. (Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services).

Last updated

Created

Further assistance

8th June 2017

20th Aug 2007

BackupAssist Support page