How to Fix Exchange DAG – VSS Writer Missing Issue?

Ram Infotech Data Recovery March 21, 2024

                  How to Fix Exchange DAG – VSS Writer Missing Issue?

Summary: When running backup in the Exchange DAG setup, you may encounter an issue with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) service and the Exchange Server VSS Writer. You may find that the VSS Writer is missing. In this post, we will be discussing the possible solutions to resolve this VSS writer issue. We will also be mentioning an Exchange repair tool that help in quick recovery of data in case the database gets corrupted or doesn’t mount.  

To perform backup and restore operations properly, it needs close coordination between the backup application and the hardware and software used for storage management. The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is a Windows service that facilitates coordination between these components so they can work better together. VSS Writer is a component that takes a snapshot of the data without locking it. It ensures that the backup software can take a successful and healthy backup which can be restored in case of any issue.

Sometimes, when running a server backup, the backup fails with an error saying that the snapshot of the databases could not be backed up because the database was not mounted. Depending on the backup software, the error message may differ.

If the database backup is not healthy, then the transactions will not commit to the database and not get purged. This will cause issues with the Exchange Server storage and possibly with the integrity of data.

To check the state of the Exchange VSS Writer, when you run the vssadmin list writers command, you may notice that VSS Writer is missing from the list.

Below, we will see how to fix the VSS Writer is missing issue in Exchange Server.

Possible Solutions to Fix the VSS Writer is Missing Issue

It might happen that the Exchange VSS writer goes missing or is disabled after installation of the Cumulative Update (CU) on the Exchange Server. You can confirm this from the registry of the server. For this, open Regedit.exe and find HKLM_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ ExchangeServer\ v15\ Replay\ Parameters\.

Then, look for the DWORD named EnableVSSWriter and check the value. Its value should be 1. If the value is incorrect, you need to change it to 1. After changing the value, you need to restart the service for the changes to take effect.

After restarting the service, check if the backup is running. Then, run the vssadmin command with the list writers parameter (see below) as administrator.

If this fails, re-register the VSS components and service using the vssadmin commands. Here’s how:

 

 

 

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