7 Appendix B: Product Behavior

The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.

  • Windows Server 2003 operating system

  • Windows Server 2003 R2 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system

  • Windows Server 2016 operating system

  • Windows Server operating system

  • Windows Server 2019 operating system

  • Windows Server 2022 operating system

  • Windows Server 2025 operating system

Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.

Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.

<1> Section 1.3: The server end of the Shadow Copy Management Protocol is implemented by the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service, as described in [MSDN-SHADOW]. The client end of the Shadow Copy Management Protocol is implemented by the Shadow Copy property tab. This tab is available as a shell extension property tab on the Windows Explorer local disk property page and on the volume property page of the Disk Management user interface.

<2> Section 1.7: The following table lists, by operating system version, the interfaces that are common to all storage management.

Interface

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 R2

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows Server 2016 / Windows Server operating system / Windows Server 2019 / Windows Server 2022 / Windows Server 2025

IVssSnapshotMgmt

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

IVssDifferentialSoftwareSnapshotMgmt

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

IVssEnumObject

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

IVssEnumMgmtObject

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

<3> Section 2.1: Windows configures the underlying RPC transport with the following flags. Details on the meaning of the following flags are as specified in [C706] and [MS-RPCE]:

  • RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_PRIVACY

  • RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IDENTIFY

  • EOAC_SECURE_REFS | EOAC_NO_CUSTOM_MARSHAL

<4> Section 2.1: The authorization constraints in Windows do not vary by operating system release. All interfaces described in this document require a level of access that corresponds to any of the following Windows security groups:

  • Administrators

  • Backup Operators

  • Restore Operators

  • SYSTEM

<5> Section 2.2.3.3: Windows sets the m_pwszSnapshotDeviceObject of the VSS_SNAPSHOT_PROP structure (section 2.2.3.3) to a format that can be passed to the Windows CreateFile API in order to successfully open the volume locally on the server machine. An example of the volume name that Windows uses is: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9.