Windows 10: Macrium Reflect Free - creating volume snapshot

I recently downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect Free for my computer running windows 10 Home Edition (I also have a computer that has windows 10 pro - but this is in regards to the computer running windows 10 home)

I started to create the backup and noticed a Failed: Failed - 0x8000fff - Catastrophic failure - Retrying without VSS Writers right under the Creating Volume Snapshot - please wait line.

I did find information - Resolving VSS Writer Errors in Windows 8, Server 2012, and Up – Datto Knowledge Base and I followed the steps there and after doing that I tried to start the backup again with the same message.

The only thing was that the one item that the information stated about repairing VSS Writer I could not find in services.msc.

I did go back and ran vssadmin list writers again and it did not show any errors, but when I tried running the backup it gave that same failure message.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.


Here is the information from the vssadmin list writers information done from a command prompt.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.829]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 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: 'ASR Writer'
Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Writer Instance Id: {c06809e2-c2ee-477d-a486-b20ff0281cfd}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {5f340c70-2ac9-47b0-b058-a414069ff7bd}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
Writer Instance Id: {cabd249c-87ef-487f-89ea-16a7a553e45d}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {57072678-dd4b-46c7-88db-6c70bed15268}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {8da4a7a1-7cf6-49b2-ba9c-78aa5d4cb3d4}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {1f841f07-1fcc-4cea-89d4-4c3e09ff194a}
State: [9] Failed
Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'MSSearch Service Writer' --- this is the one that I could not locate in services.msc
Writer Id: {cd3f2362-8bef-46c7-9181-d62844cdc0b2}
Writer Instance Id: {31fa3c7e-2b6d-4774-babb-4bf95bcc2bc6}
State: [9] Failed
Last error: Timed out


C:\WINDOWS\system32>



Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.829]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 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: 'ASR Writer'
Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Writer Instance Id: {de8b9089-93a1-412d-b1b9-f8c8caa33372}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {5f340c70-2ac9-47b0-b058-a414069ff7bd}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
Writer Instance Id: {445e6488-2eb1-486c-9c89-64d6fae96dea}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {5c61d893-1d48-46a4-ac63-df50676b5d30}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSSearch Service Writer'
Writer Id: {cd3f2362-8bef-46c7-9181-d62844cdc0b2}
Writer Instance Id: {1640b7fc-5b76-46ef-8d48-4b62a4933481}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {ba611cc1-0ea6-40d8-86c7-3cf4f09df927}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {55a93757-6136-41d1-9544-0b7964c22b03}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error


C:\WINDOWS\system32>


Thank You so Very Much



:)

 

Macrium fails to create a volume snapshot


A few days ago I installed Macrium Home V6 on four Win10 PCs (three Dell Desktops and a Dell laptop). Installs went well and I was able to create full and differential backups. Since Macrium was functioning correctly, I decided to uninstall Acronis True Image 2015 from all four PCs using the Acronis Cleanup Tool. After doing that I found that I can no longer make backups on any of them with Macrium unless I boot from a rescue USB. I suspect that the Acronis Cleanup Tool damaged the Volume Shadow Copy Service or possibly some other service(s) and or settings. Here is the error information that I get from the Macrium log, its the same on all 4 PCs.

Starting Image - Friday, January 27, 2017 17:41:35
Initializing
Destination Drive:
Free Space 2.81 TB
Creating Volume Snapshot - Please Wait

Failed: Code: 0x80042316 - Retrying without VSS Writers
ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->StartSnapshotSet(&m_latestSnapshotSetID)" failed.
- Returned HRESULT = 0x80042316
- Error text: VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS
ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->BackupComplete(&pAsync)" failed.
- Returned HRESULT = 0x80042301
- Error text: VSS_E_BAD_STATE
Gathering Windows Events - Please Wait
Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot. Result Code: 0x80042306

This is the error message that is generated by Windows VSS:
Date 1/27/2017 6:11:15 PM
Type Error
Event 12289
Source VSS
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error DeviceIoControl(\\?\Volume{b3137e6b-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} - 00000000000001BC,0x0053c008,0000024AF1F0CA00,0,0000024AF1F0DA30,4096,[0]). hr = 0x80070079, The semaphore timeout period has expired.
Operation: Processing EndPrepareSnapshotsContext: Execution Context: System Provider

I've tried the following but no joy:
Repairing the Macrium program,
Running the "Fix VSS Problems" app within Macrium,
SFC, no errors,
Checking the Volume Shadow Copy service, it is running and set to Automatic as MS recommends.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE 1: I tried to create a system restore point but it just ran for about 15 minutes without a result. Next I tried to stop and restart the Volume Shadow Copy service but got "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion"

UPDATE 2: Since I could no longer create restore points. I decided to load an image that I created (on all 4 PCs) right before I used the Acronis Cleanup Tool. The good news it that I have VSS working correctly but the bad news is that I have Acronis 2015 back on my system. Does anyone know how to remove Acronis without crippling VSS? Maybe just a simple uninstall without using the Cleanup Tool, any thoughts?

 

Failed to Create Volume Snapshot Macrium Error 0x8004230f VSS Error


Hi, you might try this:
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) Troubleshooting - Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) Troubleshooting

or the free cautious repair tool
Tweaking.com - Windows Repair Free/Pro
- observing the steps and using only the relevant repairs

More:
How to Fix VSS Errors Step-by-Step

Otherwise I suggest- assuming your disk and file system are sound-
an in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all progs, data and most settings

You need an iso of the same base language and build- freely downloadable.

 

Failed to Create Volume Snapshot Macrium Error 0x8004230f VSS Error


Typical UEFI installation should have these:




MBR - fewer