VSS issue: The Volume Shadow Copy service terminated unexpectedly.
I'm getting the following error in System Event Viewer:
The Volume Shadow Copy service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s).
The backup refuses to start. The issue arose when I upgraded my motherboard to another motherboard (same CPU + chipset X570).
There's also this error in the Application logs:
Faulting application name: vssvc.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, time stamp: 0xbf943c3d
Faulting module name: bcd.dll, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x1a78703d
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000004085
Faulting process id: 0x8028
Faulting application start time: 0x01d767268ee5b88f
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\vssvc.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\bcd.dll
Report Id: 4146d9da-4dec-459a-a0e5-fb4638c276f0
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
I can't seem to solve the issue. Anyone know how to fix this?
Acronis VSS doctor doesn't show any issue. Everything is green except for the event log which shows the above errors.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
AcronisVSSDoctorReport_2021-06-21-22-49-12.txt | 7.87 KB |


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Faulting application name: vssvc.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, time stamp: 0xbf943c3d
Faulting module name: bcd.dll, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x1a78703d
This suggests that your vssvc.exe service and the bcd.dll which would be the disk identifier in this case are not the save version. A full restart should correct the issue.
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I already restarted. That is not the issue. I think Event Viewer logged that error message because I was trying to stop the backup but it would just hang. I had to restart my computer but as soon as the PC starts it would try to backup and hangs again. Hang loops..
I had to resort to using Acronis VSS to get the back up to work. Windows VSS won't work. =(
Is there an advantage to Windows VSS? I might just keep it this way until there's a solution.
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Tony, if there is an issue with VSS then this will affect more than just ATI and will surface in other areas of your system.
Using the Acronis snapshot method in place of VSS should only be a temporary solution while you resolve the issues with the latter.
See the ATI 2021 User Guide information & warnings about correctly selecting the snapshot method!
- VSS
Warning! This is the only recommended option for backing up your system. Your computer may not start after recovery from a backup created with a different snapshot type.
This option is default for disk-level and the Entire PC backups, and guarantees data consistency in the backup.
- Acronis snapshot
A snapshot will be created with the Acronis driver used in previous versions of Acronis True Image.
I would suggest using the following commands from an Administrator command prompt or Powershell window:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth SFC /scannow
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I already tried those commands.
I also tried registering the DLL for VSS without luck either.
sfc did not detect any corrupt files. I also ran the other commands without luck.
The PC is rock solid. I don’t have any crashes or issues with it other than backing it up. This machine is on 24/7.
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Finally fixed the issue but may have created a slew of other potential issues.
I had to edit the registry's permission for VSS CLSID: Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2593f8b9-4eaf-457c-b68a-50f6b8ea6b54}
I think during the motherboard swap something happened and my computer's permissions must've gotten screwed up. I changed the owner to Administrators and I was able to get Acronis to start backing up using VSS.
But now I'm getting a bunch of other errors in Event Viewer:
1. A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the Volume Shadow Copy service to connect.
2. The Volume Shadow Copy service failed to start due to the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
3. DCOM got error "1053" attempting to start the service VSS with arguments "Unavailable" in order to run the server:
{E579AB5F-1CC4-44B4-BED9-DE0991FF0623}
Just glad the issue is gone and Aronis is actually backing up now.
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Another update...
I'm not sure what it is but I ran sfc /scannow again and everything is broken. bcd.dll was fixed because I actually had replaced that dll with another version.
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See webpage: How to troubleshoot Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service errors - and try one of the VSSfix tools provided lower down the page.
If you still have problems then you may need to do an in-place repair install of Windows 10 or use the Settings > Recovery option to reset the PC without losing any user data / settings.
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Ok, so I took the weekend to fix the issue with a clean install.
Resetting the PC doesn't even work, I would get an error. Something really got screwed up with bcd.dll and I think it has to do with the January 2021 windows update.
Note to self, keep monthly backups and carefully watch every Windows update to make sure nothing went wrong. Thanks for the help everyone.
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