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Jeff Leyser
Asked: 2009-08-04 10:49:27 +0800 CST

VSS Not Creating Shadow Set

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I'm trying to setup backup scripts on WinXP to use Volume Shadow Sets. I downloaded the VSS 7.2 SDK from MSFT, and used the include vshadow.exe to create a shadow set:

vshadow -script=vss-setvar.cmd f:

(note that I've tried both f: and c:)

vshadow executes just find, giving no errors, reporting the shadow is created. However, executing

vshadow -q

as the very next command results in "There are no shadows on the system" and, indeed, if I use dosdev to try and map the Shadow set named in vss-setvar.cmd, it will not work.

Am I missing a step?

backup windows-xp vss

2 Answers

  1. Based on the web page at: http://blogs.msdn.com/adioltean/archive/2005/01/05/346793.aspx , when vshadow is run on an XP system, the Shadow Volume is deleted when the command finishes running. To be able to use the shadow volume, you must use a callback script (add -exec=Callback-script.cmd to your command line and put the actions to preform on the shadow volume in that scipt.

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  2. Double check that the place where you are creating the shadow copy is NTFS, and not FAT16/FAT32.

    You can double check this by right click the parition/drive and going to properties.

    Also you may wish to see if that tool is supported under Windows XP. You may need to upgrade to either Windows Server line or possibly Vista, but I don't have details on that.

    Never mind, according to the tool download Windows XP is supported.

    Also to create a shadow copy the command is

    vssadmin create shadow /for=c:

    You may wish to look at the MSDN support documents about the VSS tools.

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