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VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR (Volume Shadow Copy issue)

Brad Alexander
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  1. Product Version:
    2. Servosity Standard: All
    Servosity Pro: All
    OS: Windows
  2. Problem Description:
    3. When performing a file backup, the following error message is received in the backup report:
    Backup Logs
     No.  Type  Timestamp  Backup Logs
    1 Info YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm Start [ Windows platform (Test),Servosity Pro  5.x.x.x ]
    2 Info YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm Start running pre-commands
    3 ... ... ...
    *  Error  YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm [ERROR] VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR


    Notes:
    Since a shadow copy cannot be created, the error above will usually result with the following error being flagged as well:
    Backup Logs
     No.  Type  Timestamp  Backup Logs
    *  ... ... ...
    *  Error  YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm [Error][Updated File] File="C:\Directory_Path\File" Error="The process cannot access
    the file because it is being used by another process."
  3. Cause:
    4. This is a Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy issue.
  4. Resolution:
    5. Windows XP / Vista:
    To resolve the issue, please re-register the Volume Shadow Copy Service. To do so, you could utilize the "RegisterVSS.bat" script available in ${Install-Home}\bin. Please also reboot the machine afterward.

    Notes:
    Please safely ignore the error message(s) displayed during the re-registration, as some of the DLL files are platform specific.

    Windows 2003:
    To resolve the issue, please follow the instructions below:

    1. Please backup the registry key -
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions
    2. Remove this registry key along with all its sub-keys
    3. Reboot the machine

    Although, it is not an official recommendation from Microsoft, this key will get recreated after the machine is restarted.