VSS writers timeout Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

Question

Hi Team,

3 VSS writers times out every-time and vss backup is failed.

• Server Restart Completed.
• No any other backup conflict.

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {8cacfba6-a731-4fef-be43-755335b9a6c3}
State: [9] Failed
Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
Writer Instance Id: {688f4ca7-d790-4fae-bc8e-cbf67787b24a}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Writer Instance Id: {727f8c94-4c3e-4f7a-8a1b-e2f03852a89b}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {e413a2b1-cb3e-472b-9fe3-84ab605e2ce8}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Config Writer'
Writer Id: {2a40fd15-dfca-4aa8-a654-1f8c654603f6}
Writer Instance Id: {7086acd7-4ac5-4c9c-88e5-ee29a96453f5}
State: [9] Failed
Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {cd0e0c8e-94ab-4f36-91b4-7bcdb32feb3c}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
Writer Instance Id: {1480c4b8-47e1-46b0-ab84-0fb353c24dc6}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {8bd19a7c-4da1-417d-958e-b0af16ccc26e}
State: [9] Failed
Last error: Timed out

C:\Windows\system32>

Thread source link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/f4f6c6ff-4dea-45b3-bae3-dfeaa231db7b/vss-writers-timeout-windows-server-2008-r2-standard?forum=windowsbackup

Answer 1

Hi,

According to my knowledge, I would suggest you try the method in the following article to see if it helps.

From elevated cmd (run as Admin) execute following commands sequentially …

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Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "YourDomain\Domain Admins":(RX)
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "YourDomain\Domain Users":(RX)
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\temp\PendingRenames /grant BUILTIN\Users:(RX)

Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps* /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps*.* /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps*.* /grant BUILTIN\Users:(RX)

net stop cryptsvc && net start cryptsvc

net stop vss && net start vss

net stop Winmgmt && net start Winmgmt

P.S. Replace the name of your domain in place of YourDomain !

---

Make sure to Reboot the Server after running the above commands. Run vssadmin list writers from elevated cmd and you should see the missing or problematic Writer Listed without any errors.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7309.backup-fails-with-error-message-writer-missing-or-failed-or-timed-out-or-waiting-for-completion-in-vssadmin.aspx

Best Regards,