Solved: More on "ERROR: Failed to take snapshot of a sourc...

drbking · ‎02-28-2009

I have seen previous posts on this and have tried to follow all of the suggestions but nothing is helping. I am running XP and have two hard drives, both NTFS and both have plenty of room. My destination is an external hard drive, FAT32, also with plenty of room. I am getting the message ERROR: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume. Possible causes include not having any NTFS volumes on Windows XP or Windows 2003 source systems, and not having enough free disk space.

I installed the converter as an administrator, I have rebooted multiple times, I ran checkdsk /f on both hard drives and the external drives, I have turned off all of the services that I am comfortable turning off, but I just keep getting this message. I've attached the log file.

Thanks for any help.

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-04-2009

I see that a small part of my reply was missing - running the microsoft thing, I found that I was missing vssui.dll. Downloaded it, ran the microsoft thing, and now am running converter again. Will know in the morning if it works (takes about 9 hours).

How's the conversion going?

-Ryan

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ryan_gallagher · ‎03-01-2009

Is the volume shadow copy service (vss) enabled and started? Does "vssadmin list shadows" produce anything? What does "vssadmin list volumes" output?

Any chance you could try Converter 4.0 instead of 3.0.3? You'll probably have the same issue, but the logs may be more informative. Thanks,

-Ryan

drbking · ‎03-02-2009

Thanks very much for your reply. The volume shadow copy service was enabled and started before I ran the program. Now that the program has failed (more on that in a minute), it shows that it isn't started.

I assume vssadmin list shadows is something to run at a DOS prompt? It returns Error: 0x8000ffff.

I tried running 4.0 as you suggested. The first three times it failed, just as 3.0 had failed. Each time I removed the history of the failed attempted, rebooted, and tried again. On the fourth try it ran for about 12 hours and then failed at 94% with a new message "FAILED: Unable to create a VSS snapshot of the source volume(s). Error code: 2147549183 (0x8000FFFF)."

I've included a screen shot of the task progress, another of the summary, and a zip file it created when I told it to export logs.

Thanks very much for you help.

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-02-2009

drbking wrote:

> I assume vssadmin list shadows is something to run at a DOS prompt? It returns Error: 0x8000ffff.

Interesting. After you run this command do the Windows Application Event logs have anything in them? (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer)

Reboot your system again, then please also try "vssadmin list writers" and "vssadmin list providers", checking the event logs after each. My understanding is that 0x8000ffff is a generic error that can be caused my many issues. For example, if "vssadmin list writers" isn't working then it may be covered by the following kb article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940184

I don't know that this is your issue though, perhaps the event logs have more information.

Do you have any backup utilities installed on this machine? What other software is running on this machine (database, etc)?

drbking · ‎03-03-2009

I tried yesterday to run the whole thing again, after first double-checking that the volume shadow copy service was running. I hoped I might get lucky, but instead I got the exact same result. I've attached the zipped error logs again. The following is what the event viewer showed at a point during the attempt:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: VSS

Event Category: None

Event ID: 8193

Date: 03/02/2009

Time: 11:25:45 PM

User: N/A

Computer: PN1011394

Description:

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine CoCreateInstance. hr = 0x80004002.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Data:

0000: 42 55 45 43 58 4d 4c 43 BUECXMLC

0008: 31 36 38 33 00 00 00 00 1683....

0010: 42 55 45 43 58 4d 4c 43 BUECXMLC

0018: 33 34 39 34 00 00 00 00 3494....

And at the point where it bombed out, it showed this:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: AutoEnrollment

Event Category: None

Event ID: 15

Date: 03/03/2009

Time: 3:18:02 AM

User: N/A

Computer: PN1011394

Description:

Automatic certificate enrollment for local system failed to contact the active directory (0x8007054b). The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.

Enrollment will not be performed.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at .

Back to your questions, if I run vssadmin list shadows, I get the error message in DOS, and the event viewer shows:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: VSS

Event Category: None

Event ID: 12292

Date: 03/03/2009

Time: 7:33:22 PM

User: N/A

Computer: PN1011394

Description:

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error creating the Shadow Copy Provider COM class with CLSID {65ee1dba-8ff4-4a58-ac1c-3470ee2f376a} .

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Data:

0000: 43 4f 52 53 4f 46 54 43 CORSOFTC

0008: 37 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 70......

0010: 43 4f 52 53 4f 46 54 43 CORSOFTC

0018: 36 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 60......

vssadmin list writers gives me the same DOS error and this:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: VSS

Event Category: None

Event ID: 8193

Date: 03/03/2009

Time: 7:34:27 PM

User: N/A

Computer: PN1011394

Description:

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine CoCreateInstance. hr = 0x80040154.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Data:

0000: 42 55 45 43 58 4d 4c 43 BUECXMLC

0008: 31 36 38 33 00 00 00 00 1683....

0010: 42 55 45 43 58 4d 4c 43 BUECXMLC

0018: 33 34 39 34 00 00 00 00 3494....

vssadmin list providers gave me the results shown in the attached jpg and did not produce any error in the event viewer.

I do not have any backup utilities running on the machine. The only thing active while I try the program are McAfee (which I've disabled the scan) and Fiberlink, a VPN to the office, but it is only sitting in the background, not active.

I'm going to try what the microsoft link you sent said. In the meantime, thank you for any further help you can provide.

vmnewbee9 · ‎03-03-2009

hello...I'm having the same error see attached word docs..i have never used VM ware before and have been trying to conver abt 40gig hrad drive with xp pro to ext 140 gig via usb...

Pretty frustrating limited and disappointing support from VM...

drbking · ‎03-03-2009

This is my first time with VM too. Following the advice I got, I ran the advice I got "if "vssadmin list writers" isn't working then it may be covered by the following kb article:

[

|http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940184]

vmnewbee9 · ‎03-03-2009

thanks I'm there now...

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-03-2009

Thanks for all the info drbking; this looks like a good place to start in figuring out the issue with vss on your system. I'll try to research it a bit and see if there's anything else we can try.

Let me know how your attempt at following that KB goes; just be careful with any registry modifications,

-Ryan

drbking · ‎03-03-2009

I found that I was missing vssui.dll on the PC. Downloaded it and then vssadmin list writers worked. So I'm running the converter again now. Won't know till morning if it works.

Thanks for all the help.

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-03-2009

bmnewbee9,

Can you follow the same diagnostics steps of running "vssadmin" and checking event logs, etc. given earlier in this thread. Also attaching the diagnostic bundle for this task would be helpful. (Based upon the screen shot you may have a different vss issue than drbking.) Thanks,

-Ryan

drbking · ‎03-03-2009

I see that a small part of my reply was missing - running the microsoft thing, I found that I was missing vssui.dll. Downloaded it, ran the microsoft thing, and now am running converter again. Will know in the morning if it works (takes about 9 hours).

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-03-2009

That's good news. Let us know how it goes. I'll be back online in a couple hours. Hope the conversion goes well for you,

-Ryan

vmnewbee9 · ‎03-03-2009

ok I've gone through the steps except for the last part, question are my "VSS writers are now listed" should i see all of the listing of the last step and if not should I carry on with the manual entries?

Check the attached..in any case I tried once i got to this step and no joy same error...so i guess i have to start from the top?

Thanks

Jacques

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-03-2009

Hi Jacques,

ok I've gone through the steps except for the last part, question are my "VSS writers are now listed" should i see all of the listing of the last step and if not should I carry on with the manual entries?

Was "vssadmin list writers" failing before you ran through the KB steps? I'm not really sure that this was your problem given the error code in the screenshot you gave.

Check the attached..in any case I tried once i got to this step and no joy same error...so i guess i have to start from the top?

This screenshot looks like what you want. So vss should at least be able to communicate with the writers.

Can you attached the Converter task logs? (Right click on the failed task and choose "Export Logs".)

Also can you run through the other "vssadmin list" commands as drbking had done, attaching the Windows Event log entries for any that fail.

Thanks,

-Ryan

ryan_gallagher · ‎03-04-2009

I see that a small part of my reply was missing - running the microsoft thing, I found that I was missing vssui.dll. Downloaded it, ran the microsoft thing, and now am running converter again. Will know in the morning if it works (takes about 9 hours).

How's the conversion going?

-Ryan

drbking · ‎03-04-2009

Sorry to take so long to get back to you with an answer. When I left for work this morning it was still running, so I had to wait until I got home to find out if it worked.

Great news! It worked! Thank you so much, I am really grateful for the help.

For anyone looking at this thread, here's a summary of what I did:

I ran "vssadmin list writers"

from a DOS prompt. When that returned an error, I followed the instructions in the following kb article:

It turned out that I was missing a file - vssui.dll. I googled the file, downloaded it to my WINNT directory, rebooted, and the Conversion program worked.

whoisthanhnghi · ‎09-08-2009

Hi All

This article help me very much. Thanks man

:smileylaugh:

ddawson100 · ‎02-04-2010

Thanks! The Microsoft KBase article helped in our case as well. We're trying to convert a Windows Server 2003 for SBS SP2 and it failed a couple times in a row at 94%.

I typed vssadmin list writers and only got a response showing:

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool

I then followed the steps in the KBase article you named and we're now seeing 7 writers listed. We're going for another P2V again this evening.

Cafetom · ‎03-05-2011

Try this...

My VSS problem was related to a damaged Com + catalogs. All of the VMware stuff was okay, but didn't point to this from Microsoft.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315296

Tom

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