How to manually restart all VSS writers when in a failed state without rebooting

• Title

  How to manually restart all VSS writers when in a failed state without rebooting

• Description

  There are instances when snapshots are failing due to an agent's VSS writers being in a failed state but it is impossible or not desirable to restart the server until at least after business hours.

• Cause

  The VSS writers may be in a failed state for many different reasons. Once they are in a failed state, it is usually necessary to restart the server.

• Resolution

  An alternative solution other than restarting the server is to restart each of the associated services for each of the VSS writers showing up in a failed state by following the steps below:
  

  • Find each of the VSS writers in a failed state by issuing this command in an elevated command prompt - vssadmin list writers.
  • Make a list of all the failed VSS writers or take a screenshot.
  • Find the VSS writer's associated Service Display Name in the table below and restart the service.
  • Issue the command again to confirm the status has changed Stable with no Error - vssadmin list writers.
  • Attempt to perform another snapshot.
  • If the VSS writers fail again, it will be necessary to restart the server.

  VSS Writer	Service Name	Service Display Name
  ASR Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
  BITS Writer	BITS	Background Intelligent Transfer Service
  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