VSS issues after uninstalling ATI 2017 and Disk Director 12 Home
Hi,
I'm running a Dell XPS 8900 with Windows 10 Pro Version 1803 (OS Build 17134.829). As it stands now I'm at a loss for what to try next and don't think looking at more MS VSS resources would be as productive as the specialized knowledge found here. I'm hoping someone has seen this issue before and knows just what to do or could steer me in the right direction.
Here's a description of how the uninstalls were done, the problems that followed, and some troubleshooting I've done.
- Uninstalled DD12 then ATI2017 from Programs & Features without issue.
- Ran the cleanup utility for each program and checked the suggested registry actions shown in the instructions for each. The only registry action I recall taking was to remove the fltsrv string from the UpperFilters per these instructions for the ATI cleanup utility https://kb.acronis.com/aticleanup
- Tried installing DD12 but it failed. I could have left it installed but my past experience was that uninstalling just one program caused problems with the other. Once aware of the VSS issues I decided to abandon the use of DD12 and not install it at this time. There are currently no Acronis programs installed.
When the VSS/Volsnap errors began to appear in event viewer I ran into the following problems.....
- Windows Update fails to install updates (I think because it uses System Restore).
- System Restore fails to create a restore point (I think because of the VSS errors), I lost all previous restore points as well.
I did some troubleshooting with Windows System File Checker to no avail. I ran it online a few times but its log file still shows 100's of errors that it can't repair. All the logged errors started with this string "Error: Overlap: Duplicate ownership for directory \??\C:\". Note that C:\ is the only drive letter logged in SFC errors, no other drive letters appear anywhere in the log.
Then I found the Acronis VSS Doctor tool. I'm hoping its logs are useful for uninstall issues like this and not just for troubleshooting installed programs. Please see the attached AcronisVSSDoctorReport, which include the VSS/Volsnap errors. Also attached are a series of 5 vssadmin log files as shown under Basic Troubleshooting on this page https://kb.acronis.com/vsslog.
My first questions are about this proposed fix shown by VSS Doctor.......
The following NTFS volume access control changes will be performed:
-For D:\ grant Full Control for System
-For E:\ grant Full Control for System
-For F:\ grant Full Control for System
-For G:\ grant Full Control for System
-For H:\ grant Full Control for System
-For I:\ grant Full Control for System
"If you are sure that you understand consequences of these action and still want to proceed, click Yes."
Well, I'm not sure of the consequences. The Volsnap errors state "The shadow copy of volume C: being created failed to install." But volume C: is not shown in the fix, and the drive letters that are shown are partitions on my 2nd HDD which I have excluded from System Restore. Also, all the SFC logs reference only the C:\ drive and I can't understand why the fix doesn't. Frankly, I'm afraid of making matters worse by running a fix that I can't undo.
What are the consequences?
Could it really fix the problems mentioned above?
Advice on this would certainly be helpful, as would any suggestions or comments. I'll be happy to supply whatever info could help lead to a solution.
Best Regards,
Frank
Steve, thanks for your rapid reply.
I applied the fix. All volumes have the correct access control configuration.
But now I have a catch22 situation. I can't upgrade because Windows Update still isn't working, and the VSS/Volsnap errors persist.
FWIW I think I'm so late getting a feature update because I'm on the semi-annual channel and because earlier this year MS decided to skip 1809.
I suspect there's a way to manually download & install 1903, but are you certain it would fix the issues? The last thing I need now is a botched feature update to further complicate things. What could the Acronis uninstalls have done to start these issues? Surely there's another way to fix Windows Update & System Restore so I can use it for the upgrade.
Best Regards,
Frank
Frank, thanks for the update and glad the the VSS permissions are resolved.
I have just upgraded a friend's laptop from Windows 10 #1803 to #1903 using a USB stick starting late last night and came down this morning to the usual 'We are getting things ready...' at the end of the process with 1903 installed just fine!
Note: there have been some known issues with upgrading with #1903 from a USB stick where it has been necessary to copy the USB stick contents to a local folder then run the install from there, which I have needed to do myself at least once!
To create the install / upgrade media, or to go direct to 1903, then go to the Microsoft Download Windows 10 web page, then take the option to Download tool now for the Media Creation tool.
Look at the help information below the above link for more help on the process you can follow.
Steve,
Thanks for the info & Link. Unfortunately my question went unanswered.
What makes you sure upgrading to 1903 would fix my issues?
Did your friend's computer have issues as significant as mine that were fixed?
I apologize for being so apprehensive, would just like some insight so I can share your enthusiasm.
In the meantime I'll review your links and do more reading. BTW thanks for the tip to copy USB to a local folder.
Thanks again,
Frank
Frank, I cannot tell you that upgrading to 1903 will fix all your issues with VSS etc but I believe that it should and I have done similar in-place upgrades to fix other strange / difficult problems on Windows 10 and earlier versions of Windows.
The laptop I upgraded yesterday from 1803 to 1903 did not have any VSS errors that I was aware of but was brought to me because it was behaving like a snail, taking 10 minutes to boot to the desktop etc. I did a lot of cleaning up junk, uninstalling PUP's and did the in-place upgrade and it is now running a whole lot faster for a laptop that is over 8 years old on an early Intel i3 processor.
Note: I booted the slow laptop from my ATI rescue USB media and took backups both before and after fixing all the issues & doing the upgrade - which is a practice I have followed for many years when dealing with such systems! (PUP's = Potentially Unwanted Programs).
Updating to a newer build of Windows 10 can fix some issues. Late last week my wife's HP notebook stopped talking to 27" LG monitor. It also stopped recognising some types of USB devices. (The notebook in question only has 2 Thunderbolt/USB C connectors, so monitor is attached by a docking station.) The odd thing was that an ancient HP monitor that was used with the notebook for a short while worked. I updated bios and then installed build 1903 and the problem was solved. Not sure what the problem was but it was fixed by the 'rebuilding' of the OS.
Ian
If you don't want to do the upgrade (yet) as a means to try and fix VSS, you can try a couple of things.
The System volume partition is where VSS stores snapshots during backups and Windows restore points. It sometimes gets corrupted (regardless if using Acronis or not - it's a Windows thing). Go to system protection and see if you have multiple instances of C: drive listed. If you do, that's a sure sign of problems. Usually, you can disable system protection on both instances of C:, close system protection and reopen and then it's just one. You can enable system protection again and make a restore point again and this may resolve VSS issues in the process.
Even if you don't have 2 instances of C. I'd still disable system protection on C:, close, reopen, re-enable and create a new restore point. Then reboot and see if your VSS issue for the update is resolved or not.
Another possibility is there isn't enough room on it. In some cases, assuming yours is 100MB, you can use treesize free to see how much space is in use. It should normally be about 40% or less. If it's nearly full, you'll want to manually resize it with a free tool like minitool partition wizard and give it another extra 150MB. Before doing this though, make sure you have a good backup, just in case. Minitool is really reliable though and shouldn't cause any issues, but you can't be too careful.
Unfortunately, like you, I was unable to update to 1903 from Windows update - couldn't figure it out and my above suggestion didn't help me out (but has for others). Instead, I made a USB installer with the Microsoft media creator tool and extracted it to another internal drive and ran it from there (or I could have made an .iso and burned it to disc). The install went fine and all Windows updates have been working just fine. VSS seems to be working fine too, but I won't know if the major Windows update will work until the next big release comes out and I try again.
Ian, thanks for letting me know it fixed those issues. That's encouraging.
Bobbo_3C0X1, You're right, I don't want to do the upgrade just yet. I think it's too heavy handed when there's more troubleshooting outside of VSS than can be done. For example, this "Error: Overlap: Duplicate ownership for directory \??\C:\" still appears in SFC logs, 777 of them each with a different path on C:. I'm skeptical that an upgrade would be able to correct that. I ran Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth from Cmd Prompt followed by Sfc /scannow. That fixed integrity issues that used to be displayed in Cmd Prompt but the "duplicate ownership" errors still show in SFC logs.
I looked at my System volume info folder last week when I found all my restore points were lost, it was empty, 0 bytes. I didn't have two C: drives but I did try disabling Sys Protection, exiting, then re-enabling. Still couldn't create a restore point. There's plenty room with 0 bytes on it:-) It's always been set to 13%, never had an issue with that.
What I'll likely do before going the upgrade route is try restoring from a month old backup I have and save the upgrade as a last resort. But for now I'll continue troubleshooting.
FWIW I have found the issues to be quite predictable. See the screenshots below, they're in the order in which they are mentioned.
In the System Event log screenshot I've highlighted the VSS errors. The first one is logged about 30 minutes after booting and about 20 minutes after the WindowsUpdateClient loads. The next 4 errors are logged 20 minutes apart. To see how they terminate, look at the Application Event log. The last VSS error logged is followed by a System Restore error then ends with a VSS Info entry that says the VSS Service shut down due to an idle timeout. At that point, almost 1-1/2 hours after booting, the errors stop. But if I try to create a Restore Point or run Windows Update the sequence of errors start all over again.
At the same time the first error is logged, Windows Defender shows a yellow warning icon in the notification panel. At the bottom of that screenshot is the result of using the Open Troubleshooter button. Also at the same time Device Mgr pops up a hidden Generic volume shadow copy device with a warning icon. I included Properties in that screenshot, and driver details in another.
While the entire sequence of errors are actively occurring the System Protection dialog is totally grayed out. Once the errors have stopped and I try to create a restore point, the progress bar keep running, but it never finishes (I let it run for 2 hours). I have to close the dialog by ending the task in Task Mgr.
Thanks again to all of you for sharing your experiences.
Best Regards,
Frank
Problem solved without doing a repair install.
I was about to give up troubleshooting and started preparing for a repair install with an in-place upgrade. Had the v1903 ISO ready and started doing the preps for booting into Windows to start it.
I've read at some sites to turn System Protection off before starting the repair install. I also read to boot into Windows with Secure Boot temporarily turned off in the BIOS to run the install.
So I waited 1-1/2 hours for the VSS/Volsnap errors to stop, then could I access System Protection settings to turn it off. But instead of booting to the BIOS to turn off Secure Boot, I decided to reboot to Windows while System Protection was still turned off, simply because I hadn't tried that before.
In a previous attempt to get System Protection and WU working, I did the same as Bobbo_3C0X1. I refreshed System Protection by turning it off, closing the dialog, reopening the dialog and turning it back on. No joy, the VSS/Volsnap errors persisted, no system restore, no Windows Update. Notice that here no reboot occurred while protection was turned off.
After the reboot with protection turned off, I started checking for VSS/Volsnap errors. The first VSS log entry appeared sooner than expected, but it was not an error, it was the same Information event I usually see logged after the series of errors stopped (The VSS service is shutting down due to idle timeout). So I waited, no errors appeared after 2 hours.
After seeing that some WindowsUpdateClient events had also appeared in the event log, I took a look at Windows Update. Amazingly the Windows updates that have been failing since July 8th were installed. So I made a Macrium backup using its Recovery USB. After booting into Windows, amazingly again, the v1903 feature update was offered to me by Windows Update!! So I decided to update via Windows Update instead of the ISO. It was successful. A few reboots later I went to turn System Protection back on and found that it was already on. I was finally able to successfully create a restore point.
v1903 has been working fine. No VSS/Volsnap errors, I can create restore points, Windows Update works and I can now create Macrium backups from within Windows as well.
With certainty I can say the solution to getting rid of the VSS/Volsnap errors and having a working Windows Update was to turn off System Protection and reboot.
What I'll never know is if the issues would have returned had I NOT updated to v1903 and tried turning System Protection back on.
For anybody left with similar issues after uninstalling an Acronis product I would simply suggest turning off System Protection and rebooting. It isn't good enough to turn protection off then back on in the same Windows session, the reboot must occur while protection is turned off. Your problems may be gone, and with any luck you'll be able to turn protection back on and create a restore point as well. If not, then a repair install would be so much more productive than a long drawn out troubleshooting session chasing ghosts left by an Acronis uninstall, for which Acronis seems to have a bad reputation from all the reading I've done on the subject.
Thank you all for your help.
Frank
Frank, thank you for sharing your experience here and great to hear that the VSS issues are now gone away, hopefully forever!