How to fix system state backup error and NTDS VSS (error: 0x800423f4) state [11]?
Solution 1
Volume shadow copying may stop working at times for a number of reasons I don't really get. But I have had success in making the VSS service run correctly again by deleting all existing shadow copies on a particular volume. Do like this in an elevated command prompt:
vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all
I see that you tried to reset the VSS copies for your volumes, but did you do it like this?
Next, check out the ETL files you get - they are parseable if you use the VSS tracing tools available here. In particular, try doing:
vsstrace -etl <file.etl> -o <outfile>
This should give you the logged events in a readable format. If this doesn't give you anything worthwhile, try getting a list of VSS writers like this:
vssadmin list writers
The result should be a list of entities that use the VSS service to write stuff along with a Last error:
entry per writer. In particular, you should check if there is more than just the one failing component.
EDIT: and this - I just remembered I fixed wbadmin strangeness by resetting the backup catalog. This may or may not be an option for you, but I did it like this:
wbadmin delete catalog
Hope it helps!
Solution 2
In my case I just needed to set the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to manual and stop the service. I've seen before where forums will suggest setting this service to automatic; bad advice. I've never seen that fix anything related to VSS.
Solution 3
I had a similar issue recently - it was due to an old Acronis filter driver that didn't get uninstalled correctly. You can check the "Device Stack" property under the details of the drive.
This is a normal stack example:
In my case there was an additional entry there that I looked up, and discovered it was from Acronis, and so I ran their "full cleanup" utility (https://kb.acronis.com/aticleanup)
Solution 4
Almost a year of Microsoft updates later, the VSS NTDS error 11 issue is still there.
This time I did:
> vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all
- Stop CrashPlan Backup Service
- Restart COM+ Event System
- Restart Volume Shadow Copy
> wbadmin delete catalog
Opening the Windows Small Business Server 2011 backup console now lists that there is no backup configured. I did now re-create the server backup which also re-formats the USB drive. First time starting the backup stops after ±52 seconds. The second time the backup procedure is already running for over 30 minutes.
The Windows backup complains after many hours that there is not enough free space available on the drive. I have read that the amount of free space needs to be 2 times the backup size.
COM+ Event System
update: Sunday 30.04.2017 the hard disk drive has been replaced with a new drive with plenty (3TB) capacity. The list of steps above resulted in the dreaded VSS NTDS 0x800423f4
error. Restarting the machine doesn't improve. Restarting individual services doesn't improve either. The 0x800423f4
error appears within 1 minute after starting Win SBS 2011 server backup, except for restarting "COM+ Event System". This while the CrashPlan service is turned off and the machine was last restarted after restarting "Base Filtering Engine". Now the "Backup Now" is already running for over 10 minutes without error 0x800423f4
. Since the last server restart these services have been restarted without a change in the "Backup Now" result:
- Block Level Backup Engine Service
- Bonjour-service
- Certificate Propagation
- ClamWin Free Antivirus Database Updater
- ClamWin Free Antivirus Scanner Service
- CNG Key Isolation
Now the Windows Server Backup details shows "completed" as status instead of "The backup is not started". However the completion window now shows Unknown error (0x80042302)
.
The Event Log entry with ID 12294 might be related:
Fout in de Volume Shadow Copy-service: fout bij het aanroepen van een routine op de schaduwkopieprovider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. De routine heeft E_INVALIDARG geretourneerd. Routinedetails GetSnapshot({00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},0000000004FB8DF0).
b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5 is not listed when running vssadmin list writers
.
When trying to re-register the Volume Shadow Copy provider service component:
C:\Windows\System32> regsvr32 /i swprv.dll
The command returns error code: 0x80070715
, as it possibly should on Windows 2008 R2.
Solution 5
I have also VSS writers errors previously. In our servers mostly system writers, registry writers and WMI writers gets timed out. After digging a lot I found one solution to recycle the below services. Then server reboot will not be required and next backup will be successful.
-
Application Host Helper Service
(not applicable) COM+ Event System
Cryptographic Services
IIS Admin Service
Volume Shadow Copy
Windows Management Instrumentation
Before this, I re-applied the PSConfig.exe ...
command, added some swap files and removed those again, did some reboot in between, cycled these services and now "Windows Backup" completes its "System State" backup again without issues.
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Saeed Rahmatolahi
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
Saeed Rahmatolahi almost 2 years
The SBS 2011 (Exchange is at SP1) Windows 2008 R2 suddenly stopped making backups with error
Backup unsuccessful. A Volume Shadow Copy Service operation failed. Unknown error (0x800423f4).
When manually starting the backup from SBS console, the backup will fail after 52 seconds.
Hardware setup
The source of the backup are two RAID-1 volumes connected to a P420:
- 2 x 128GB Samsung SSD 840 — 78 GB out of 119 GB available
- 2 x 300GB ATA WDC WD3000HLFS — 218 GB out of 279 GB available
The backup destination is a USB drive with 298 GB of (free) space.
System State backup fails
> wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:\\?\Volume{3956a561-b129-11e3-805c-7446a0f49555} ...(203.18 MB)... Failure in a Volume Shadow Copy Service operation. ERROR - Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error (0x800423f4) The writer experienced a non-transient error. If the backup process is retried, the error is likely to reoccur.
I could not read .etl files
The
wbadmin
command output also points to log files that should be available atC:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\
, however there are no.log
files there (only.etl
files).NTDS writer is in state "[11] Failed"
> Vssadmin list writers
The only item with an error is the
NTDS
writer:Writer name: 'NTDS' Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757} Writer Instance Id: {d88809aa-a5ef-460e-84c0-4dd8a8350184} State: [11] Failed Last error: Non-retryable error
Event viewer
In the event viewer
Application
event log thewbadmin start systemstate
command registers- an error for application
Backup
with Event-ID521
and error number2155348129
. - After starting the command the ESENT event-IDs occur is this order:
2001
,2001
,2003
,2006
,2003
,2006
, - then there is the
VSS
event8229
with error0x800423f4
, - then there are
18264
events (MSSQL database backup succeeded forMICROSOFT##SSEE
,SBSMONITORING
andSHAREPOINT
), - and finally there is the
Backup
event521
with error2155348129
.
Regression
- Reboot
- Disable
CrashPlan backup
service - Disable
SQL Server VSS Writer
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN>PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures
-
Clear Volume Shadow Copy files for boot volume
> vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all
Set Volume Shadow Copy to use unlimited space on both volumes
-
Delete backup catalog
> wbadmin delete catalog
Restart the
Com
andDCOM
services- Restart the
Volume Shadow Copy
Service - Uninstall Windows Backup component; reboot; install Windows Backup component
- Install Update Rollup 4 for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard (KB2885319)
- Re-registering Vss Dlls
- Install Sharepoint 2010 Foundation SP2
cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN";PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures
- increase swap file from 32MB to 1.5x RAM (90000 MB)
- Run
dcdiag /fix
; remove old domain controller; reboot; rundcdiag /fix
again
Command "dcdiag /fix" fails
Starting test: NCSecDesc Error NT AUTHORITY\ENTERPRISE DOMAIN CONTROLLERS doesn't have Replicating Directory Changes In Filtered Set access rights for the naming context: DC=DomainDnsZones,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM Error NT AUTHORITY\ENTERPRISE DOMAIN CONTROLLERS doesn't have Replicating Directory Changes In Filtered Set access rights for the naming context: DC=ForestDnsZones,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM ......................... Contoso-DC1 failed test NCSecDesc
FRS evntvwr
File Replication Service log shows some errors with id 13568, De File Replication-service de volgende fout aangetroffen in de replicaset DOMAIN SYSTEM VOLUME (SYSVOL SHARE): JRNL_WRAP_ERROR.
How do I let this backup complete its backups again?
-
strongline over 8 yearsI can't comment on why the backup is failing, but the Dcdiag output is expected if you don't have RODC in your environment (to be exact, it's due to you never run adprep /rodcprep), kb 967482
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Saeed Rahmatolahi over 8 years
vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all
doesn't improve. Afterwbadmin delete catalog
the backup still fails with the dreaded 0x800423f4 error message. There are 30+ *.etl files on the system. None of them do contain the word "vss" neither "volume" neither "shadow". No luck with this answer. -
MrMajestyk over 8 yearsHave you tried parsing the .etl files using the
vsstrace
utility I described? Checking for errors in the resulting output files is quite useful IMHO. It might get you something. Also: Did thewbadmin delete catalog
help? -
Saeed Rahmatolahi over 8 yearsNo: the
wbadmin delete catalog
did not help. Which exact .etl to use with vsstrace? -
MrMajestyk over 8 yearsThat is hard to say - try the newest one you can find. I don't know the exact logic behind the .etl stuff. Only that once parsed, they are much more readable.
-
Saeed Rahmatolahi almost 8 years
vsstrace -etl <file.etl> -o <outfile>
does only output 2 lines of text from 5MB C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\Wbadmin.0.etl -
SilverbackNet almost 6 yearsFWIW, SBS 2011 servers have been my biggest source of unsolvable problems. Specifically relating to backups and VSS, any SBS or 2008 R2 with Citrix on it is almost guaranteed to be an endless headache. If a writer errors, it won't show up on vssadmin list writers; you'll have to figure out what it refers to in the registry and either fix or delete it there.
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Saeed Rahmatolahi about 5 yearsI don't think that deleting and re-creating the backup will help. Because
ntdsutil
>snapshot
>activate instance ntds
>create
is unable to create a snapshot due to temporary error number 0x800423f4. -
thelanranger about 5 yearsI'm not certain of the exact error number that you would receive, but those are the symptoms that I generally receive when I am in your situation. Deleting the entire job and remaking it usually corrects the issue. It's that thing you really try to not do but it is generally what fixes it. I believe there are some specialty permissions that Windows Backup uses to write VSS style data into the System Volume Information directory on the external disk that you cannot alter with vssadmin/ntdsutil etc.