SBS 2003 SP2: VSS errors; unable to create system state backup (NTBACKUP)

Question

NTBACKUP system state on W2k3 server fails after "thinking" for ~10 mins and "creating" shadow copy; almost no disk activity, almost no CPU load. Errors in the Application
log:
Source: SQLVDI EventID: 1
Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=3392. Thread=29348. Client. Instance=. VD=Global\{9B35142B-C687-4766-9707-BC387534BA38}1_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Several of them.
Then: 
EventID: 8019
Source: NTBackup
End Operation: Warnings or errors were encountered. 
Consult the backup report for more details.
Then: 
Source: VSS
EventID: 12305
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Volume/disk not connected or not found. Error context: CreateFileW(\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9,0xc0000000,0x00000003,...).
And finally:
EventID: 12293
Source: VSS
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on the Shadow Copy Provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. Routine details PostFinalCommitSnapshots({de0d580b-68ce-4eae-a046-b5b5b7a80235}, 1) [hr = 0x80042308].
When creating shadow copy on the system volume, the operation may take ~40-90 mins. On the data volume -- <1 min.
"vssadmin list writers" shows:
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.
Writer name: 'System Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'FRS Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'NTDS'
    State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Dhcp Jet Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'Certificate Authority'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'WINS Jet Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error
Writer name: 'TermServLicensing'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   State: [10] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error
Here is what I tried to do:
1. Restarted that thing.
2. Cleaned the security log.
3. Installed Windows Server 2003 Hotfix rollup KB940349-v3.
4. Stopped both SBSMONITORING and SHAREPOINT instances of MSDE, SQL 2005, SQL 2005 VSS and tried to perform the system state backup then. Stopped Exchange 2003 before launching NTBACKUP as well.
5. "regsvr32 sqlvdi.dll" in MSDE directory.
6. Renamed "System Volume Information" on all volumes and VSS has re-created them.
7. chkdsk /f was fun on all volumes, no major issues found.
8. Installed Hotfixes KB967551, KB975928-v2 (someone recommended).
9. Disabled SQL Server VSS Writer (SQLVDI errors disappeared from the application event log, VSS and NTBACKUP errors stayed).
10. Re-registered the DLLs as per Shaon Shan's post at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/346fa42c-a476-457f-bcf3-59f87e444b55
The above had no effect on the issue whatsoever, except a little change at item 9 as mentioned.

Answer 1

Hi there.
I just had that problem. I saw friday my backup from my sbs 2003, was not completing becasuse it said it couldn´t creat a shadow copy in the external drive... It kept giving me errors os VSS and Volsnap... But strange thing is, i have VSS turned off in all
drives, and from months no problems with backups... So i went in Event viewer and look at it with attention, i saw a error that keep coming up from time to time (because we change the external drive form week to week). And i realize that there's a disk error
event...
Couldn´t run checkdisk from server, dont now why.. So i disconnected the drive, connected to my laptop, and ran a CheckDisk /F /X. ... It had BAD SECTORS! So i ran check disk... waited like 10-20 minutes. And then i ran it again just in case, and the 2nd
time was much more faster, like 3-6 minutes. 
I disconnected from laptop, and connected to server. I went to the Backup wizard (in server managment), and press Backup now... 
It hang 5-10 second in Creating Shadow copy..... And it started making the Backup :_D
I've seen all errors that were reported exactly as mine. I ran the Hotfix, all stayed the same, i followed all manual steps and still the same... and the problem was always in the external drive, which had bad sectors. 
Hope it will help the next person that needs this info!