VSS timing out on all backups

OK, here's the requisite info for those interested:

I am running Windows 7 Premium Home Edition (sp1) 64-bit on a Hewlett-Packard p6774y Desktop PC
932 GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SATA HDD (877 GB free)
2.90 GHz ADM Phenom II X4 840T Processor
6.0 GB installed RAM
802.11n Wireless LAN card
ATI Radeon HD 4200 display adapter
Hewlett-Packard DVD/CD-Rom device
USB 3 mass storage device (Seagate 3TB external HDD)
USB 3 mass storage device (ioSafe 3TB external HDD)
Generic- Compact Flash USB Device
Generic- MS/MS-Pro USB Device
Generic- SD/MMC USB Device
Generic- SM/xD-Picture USB Device
HP LaserJet Professional M1217nfw MFP Printer
All hardware drivers up to date according to IObits Driver Booster
All Microsoft updates effectuated (except MSIE 11)
System scanned with Norton360 (real time), plus the following stand-alone scanners: Sophos, Panda Cloud Cleaner, Hitman Pro, Malwarebytes Anti-malware & SUPERAntiSpyware. Also scanned with FSecure boot-time AV scanner and a couple of rootkit scanner --> no malware found
Chkdsk.exe - No disk errors
SFC.exe - No missing or corrupted system files
Defrag.exe < 5% (all drives)

A few days ago my scheduled backup jobs (disk image, file backup, registry backup) have been terminating early and giving me non-specific error messages referencing a problem with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

I checked the system events log and found that all of the VSS session errors are due to the following error code:

8224 - The VSS service is shutting down due to idle timeout.

I used the vssadmin list writers command at an elevated command prompt to see which writer was crapping out but all of them stated that there had been no errors.

I tried reregistering all of the DLLs used in VSS using the regsvr32 command but that didn't help.

I checked My Computer >> Manage >> Services >> Volume Shadow Copy to make sure that VSS was indeed activated and found it set to "Automatic", so no problem there.

The programs involved in this (the ones that don't finish backing up) are:

NovaSTOR NovaBackup v14.5
AOMEI Backupper v1.6
Tweaking.com Registry Backup v1.68

I Googled "VSS 8224" but didn't find anything useful.

I tried turning off all of the malware monitoring software on my system but that didn't help.

I tried shutting down all nonessential apps, processes, and services prior to the backup jobs but that didn't help... VSS still timed out.

Anyone have any idea why VSS would just start timing out during system/file/registry backups?

 

This is normal.


VSS doesn't run unless its needed, so when idle and not needed, it stops.

See here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc734518(WS.10).aspx

 

That makes sense. However, the VSS on my system is timing out precisely when it is needed the most; when one of my backup programs is backing stuff up.

 

It could be an issue with your backup program. Have you tried others?

Also, VSS is only needed for files in use. Perhaps its stopping when those files have already been backed up? Does the backup finish if you run it manually?

 

I don't know. That's a good question. I'll do some manual backups and let you know.

 

Hey Adrynalyne, I did some manual backups but they crapped out too. However.....I snooped around the internet a little more and tracked down a program that restores all of the registry values needed for VSS to function properly. It also reregisters all of the DLLs needed by VSS. It's called VSSfix and it can be downloaded from the Macrium Reflect website at:

http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50010.aspx

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions available.

After running the program and rebooting, my backup programs went back to functioning normally (no VSS time-outs) whether scheduled or invoked manually. I must have been missing some registry entries. Sometimes I wonder whether those registry "cleaners" like CCleaner are such a good idea. Even if I review each and every suggested deletion, I still don't know what half of the entries are for. For most computer users, using those kind of programs definitely requires a leap of faith, and my faith is fading by the day.

.

 

Hey Adrynalyne, I did some manual backups but VSS kept timing out. However..... I did some more fishing on the web and tracked down a program that restores all of the registry values needed for VSS to function properly. It also reregisters all of the DLLs needed by VSS. It's called VSSfix and it can be downloaded from the Macrium Reflect website at:

http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50010.aspx

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions available.

After running the program and rebooting my backup programs went back to functioning normally (no VSS time-outs), whether scheduled or invoked manually. I must have been missing some registry values. Sometimes I wonder how smart it is to use these registry "cleaners" like CCleaner. Even if I review every registry entry suggested for deletion I still don't know what half of the values/keys are for. It seems that it takes a certain amount of blind faith to use that type of program, and I'm losing more faith every day.

 

Sorry about the double post. I have to take some heavy meds at bedtime and I get pretty stupid if I don't fall asleep right away. Is there a way to delete posts? I've never seen a "delete" button.