Restart VSS Writers without a reboot

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Having started working in my current IT support role a little over a year ago, I was shocked to discover that the general fix for Windows Server Backup errors caused by failed VSS writers was to reboot the server. I had in my previous role resolved this issue many times by restarting the service that related to the VSS writer. For example the “Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer” failure can be resolved by restarting the “Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management” service (vmms).

A list of failed writers on any given Windows server can be generated by executing the following command from an elevated command prompt:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers

For easier reference I personally export the results to a text file using the following:

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers c:\vsswriters.txt

Once completed you can easily open the generated file in notepad with:

C:\Windows\system32>notepad.exe c:\vsswriters.txt

Using the table below find the service for each VSS Writer that is in a failed state, make a note of each service name.

VSS Writer	Service Name	Service Display Name
ASR Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
BITS Writer	BITS	Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Certificate Authority	EventSystem	COM+ Event System
COM+ REGDB Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
DFS Replication service writer	DFSR	DFS Replication
DHCP Jet Writer	DHCPServer	DHCP Server
FRS Writer	NtFrs	File Replication
FSRM writer	srmsvc	File Server Resource Manager
IIS Config Writer	AppHostSvc	Application Host Helper Service
IIS Metabase Writer	IISADMIN	IIS Admin Service
Microsoft Exchange Writer	MSExchangeIS	Microsoft Exchange Information Store
Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer	vmms	Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management
NTDS	NTDS	Active Directory Domain Services
OSearch VSS Writer	OSearch	Office SharePoint Server Search
OSearch14 VSS Writer	OSearch14	SharePoint Server Search 14
Registry Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
Shadow Copy Optimization Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
SPSearch VSS Writer	SPSearch	Windows SharePoint Services Search
SPSearch4 VSS Writer	SPSearch4	SharePoint Foundation Search V4
SqlServerWriter	SQLWriter	SQL Server VSS Writer
System Writer	CryptSvc	Cryptographic Services
TermServLicensing	TermServLicensing	Remote Desktop Licensing
WINS Jet Writer	WINS	Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
WMI Writer	Winmgmt	Windows Management Instrumentation

Using the list of service names complied from the above table restart each of the services, this can be achieved from services.msc or an elevated command prompt.

Services.msc
Right click on the service, and then, on the Action menu, click Restart.

Elevated command prompt
Execute the following to stop the service:

C:\Windows\system32>net stop VSS-SERVICE-NAME

Once stopped the service needs to be restarted with:

C:\Windows\system32>net start VSS-SERVICE-NAME

Once the necessary services have been restarted check the status of the VSS Writers:

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers

The relevant VSS writers should now show as stable with no Error.