How-To:  Repair VSS on 2003/XP

July 13 2010

  1. Regedit, back up and delete this key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions
  2. Restart (or start, then stop) these services:

    3. COM+ Event System
    COM+ System Application
    Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
    Volume Shadow Copy

  3. Open a command prompt, type “vssadmin list writers”.  If they are listed, you are done.  If they are not, type the following commands (vssui.dll does not work in Windows XP):

    4. cd /d %windir%\system32
    net stop vss
    net stop swprv
    regsvr32 ole32.dll
    regsvr32 oleaut32.dll
    regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
    vssvc /register
    regsvr32 /i swprv.dll
    regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
    regsvr32 es.dll
    regsvr32 stdprov.dll
    regsvr32 vssui.dll
    regsvr32 msxml.dll
    regsvr32 msxml3.dll
    regsvr32 msxml4.dll

  4. Type “vssadmin list writers” again, confirm that writers are listed and ready.
  5. Type “vssadmin list shadows” to view existing shadow copies, check for errors.

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