I have installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and tried converting the machine with VMware vCenter Converter (version 4.1). Every time I run the software I get the following error in less than one minute:
FAILED: Unable to create a VSS snapshot of the source volume(s). Error code:
2147754754 (0x80042302).
I am oddly having a similar issue trying to use the Windows 7 Backup and Restore program to create a system image. I have scoured the vmware boards and the microsoft boards and nothing seems to work. Any help would be appreciated as this worked for me without a hitch with Vista Ultimate (except for the fact that Vista sucked!). Thanks.
Hello Bernito,
This seems like a Windows issue. It is not a bad idea to disable the "Volume Shadow Copy (VSS)" service on the source Windows PC and then to try and run the converter again. Disabling the VSS service will remove all the shadow copy stored in the source PC thus allowing the converter to proceed further.
Regards,
Aravind K
If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
Hi Aravind,
Turning VSS off in services unfortunately doesn't work, it continues to quit
nearly immediately and posts the same error message. Thanks for your
suggestion and I welcome any others you might have.
Regards,
Bernito
I deleted all my backup files through Windows backup, used vssadmin to delete all shadows, and turned off system restore on the PC. Migration still does not work. I get the same code.
same error when trying to convert a windows 2008 R2 server, not found a sollution yet?
I know this is a really old post; however, I still ran into this issue many years later and have found a solution. I was converting a 32 bit Windows 7 machine that was already a VM - I simply wanted to reduce the system volume's size. It was too big and was making cloning take longer than it should.
The solution that worked for me is not my work. I take no credit for it, nor do I take any responsibility for what it does. I blindly followed these instructions and it worked perfectly for me. I will provide a link to the original web site AND a copy of the instructions in case that website no longer exists one day.
I only followed these steps thru part 6. I did not need to go any further after that.
Good Luck. Hope this helps someone as it helped me.
I'd like to say Thank you to: STC-KevinH who appears to be the original author.
The website as of 12-19-2014 can be found here: http://www.storagecraft.com/support/kb/article/32
Below here is the information copied directly from the website I just listed above.
This article details how to troubleshoot VSS errors.
Backups may be failing due to Microsoft's VSS framework being in a bad state. This could be caused by clashes between ShadowProtect and other programs trying to use VSS at the same time. Only one writer can use VSS at any given time (See article on "Understanding VSS and ShadowProtect"). Another possible cause for VSS errors is that the necessary system services may have been mistakenly disabled.
If Microsoft's VSS framework and/or some of the VSS writers are in a bad state, you need to clean the system up before your backups will work.
Part 1:
Part 2:Go to Start | Run and enter "services.msc" - Click OK.
Part 3:Next, you need to delete all greyed-out devices (non-present "Storage Volume shadow copies" devices) possibly left over from previous snapshots.
These can only be removed one at a time. Select one from the list, right click, and then choose uninstall. Repeat this process until all greyed-out devices are removed. If there are devices still listed which are not greyed-out then the vssadmin delete shadows /all did not work properly. Try running it again.Part 4:Do not delete any of the Storage Volumes.Part 5:
Part 6:Reboot.Part 7:After you finish rebooting:
ConclusionFollowing the steps listed above should clean the system up enough for you to start using ShadowProtect. Proper VSS interaction is very complex and many backup products leave various components (especially VSS writers) in bad states. This can cause problems for other backup products. If you are using any other backup products, it's very likely that they will corrupt the states of various VSS components. You must always ensure that ShadowProtect does not run at the same time as other backup software such as Backup Exec, Acronis, etc.
Related articles:Understanding VSS and ShadowProtect - gives more basic information on what VSS is, how it works and which Operating Systems and applications are VSS aware.
Reregistering VSS steps for Server 2003: (Also referenced in the article labled: VSS Backups fail with a VSS error of 0x8000FFFF)
To attempt to reregister/reset VSS follow Microsoft's support knowledge base article listed at:
Error message when you run the "vssadmin list writers" command on a Windows Server 2003-based comput...
Scroll down to the section labled:
"Let me fix it myself"
Follow this section of Microsoft's document. .
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32.exe /i %windir%\system32\eventcls.dll
regsvr32.exe /i %windir%\system32\swprv.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\system32\vssui.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\vss_ps.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\msxml.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\msxml2.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\msxml3.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\msxml4.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\ole32.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\oleaut32.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\es.dll
regsvr32.exe %windir%\SysWOW64\comsvcs.dll
vssvc /register
"C:\> vssadmin list writers"
"C:\> vssadmin list shadows"