Hyper V VMMS Event ID 10172 server 2012 R2

Question

Hi,
Recently setup a brand new 2012 R2 server, using hyper v to host 3 VM's, backing up with backup exec 2014.The backups are failing, backup exec stating...
V-79-40960-38521 -
Snapshot Technology: Initialization failure on: "VRTSRV::\\UKBNHV01.ProCam.local\Hyper-V?Virtual?Machine\UKBNDC01". Snapshot technology used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
A virtual machine snapshot could not be created. Use the Event Viewer on the Hyper-V host to identify the cause. If the virtual machine is not properly configured, it may be necessary to use the Event Viewer in the virtual machine to
identify the cause.
Looking at the Hyper V VMMS event viewer I get the error:
VSS writers inside virtual machine 'UKBNIT01' failed to perform BackupComplete to its shadow copy (VSS snapshot) set: Catastrophic failure (0x8000FFFF). (Virtual machine ID 7C31CD39-FFAD-4E04-BF92-223BC120BE1B) event ID 10172
I see there are other posts relating to this, with random answers suggesting fixes relating to disk speeds and all sorts. If i restart the hyper v's and physical server the backup will run maybe 2 or 3 times successfully before failing again. Clearly buying
a server to restart it every 2 days isn't an option.
It seems apparent this isn't just a problem relating to server 2012 R2, but has carried across in all newer versions of windows server.
My Vss Writers list as follows:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
   Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
   Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
   Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
   Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
   Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {89a328b7-87eb-48e2-a3e6-9d04b164ba32}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Instance Id: {baa1e068-a50f-4d2e-898c-a54920ae4117}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {4986e692-ea2c-454e-813e-9e5f71854adf}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {f7f18f2b-660b-4e18-9aa1-5caa5115045e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {bfa584a7-72b3-47c1-90d7-87e71074e875}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {954a91e4-8c93-4f21-9ceb-53f2df3fefc5}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {a254fab5-d160-4a2d-9f8f-e43e7ea0708e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {d01d076a-aa1b-4998-8a5b-91b993895405}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {1e7cb515-f73d-4146-838d-74605a77628c}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Is anyone able to explain how to trace why the Hyper-V VSS Writer gets the retryable error?
Thanks
Nick

Answer 1

Hi Nick,
You could use diskshadow command to clean up the orphaned snapshots to bring the Hyper-V VSS Writer back to a stable condition.
Diskshadow (press enter)
delete shadows all (press enter)
Firstly, please check if you can do a backup with Windows Server Backup. In additional, please check if there is a Read Only Volume attached to VMs. If so, removed the flag read only volume to check if the backup works.
Best Regards,
Mandy 
We
are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this
interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time.
Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.