Windows 10 – How to Completely Reinstall Volume Shadow Copy Service

backupservicesvolume-shadow-copywindows 10

I have a problem which occured out of nowhere a few months ago and which I could not yet resolve:

I cannot create Backups of my Windows 10 PC because the service "Volume Shadow Copy" throws errors. The errors occur in my backup program Ashampoo Backup Pro 15 but also if I try to use the built-in Windows 10 backup "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)".

The 3rd party backup program yields the following error code: 0x8004230f. The whole error message roughly translates (from German) to:

Error while starting Windows component (Volume Shadow Copy Service), which is required for backing up the disk (Error VSS 0x8004230f)

The Windows Backup and Restore fails with Error Code 0x80070002 as you can see in the attached screenshot: Windows Backup and Restore Error Screenshot

I tried repairing the service using sfc /scannow and dism.

In the Windows Service console, the VSS Service is set to start type Automatic. If I manually start the Service, the errors are reported as described above.

The output of vssadmin list providers is as follows:

vssadmin 1.1 - Verwaltungsbefehlszeilenprogramm des Volumeschattenkopie-Dienstes
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.

Anbietername: "Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0"
   Anbietertyp: System
   Anbieterkennung: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
   Version: 1.0.0.7

How can I fix the VSS Service and create backups again?

Best Answer

As suggested by @harrymc, I ran the command vssadmin list providers in a PowerShell in Admin Mode.

The output yielded two results (abbreviated here):

Anbietername: "Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0"
   Anbietertyp: System
   Anbieterkennung: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}

Anbietername: "DC VSS Easeus Software Provider"
   Anbietertyp: Software
   Anbieterkennung: {c59877d4-5ae5-49a6-aabb-3c022919b616}

The Easeus provider seemed odd because I do not have software by this company installed on my PC.

So I removed this provider by deleting its entry in the Registry following these steps. Outline:

  1. Note the GUID of the provider from vssadmin list providers. (in the example above, this would be the GUID starting with c59877d4-.
  2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Providers\.
  3. There should be an entry with the GUID from above. When you click on the entry, it shows the provider's name as the default string value.
  4. Backup the entry by right-clicking and choosing Export.
  5. Delete the entry by right-clicking and choosing Remove.
  6. Go into the Windows Service configuration and restart the Volume Shadow Copy Service.
  7. Now it works again. (Maybe you need to restart the system)
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