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0x8004230F or Error: VSSControl: -2147212529 (VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR)

KB ID: 1785
Product: Veeam Backup & Replication
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Published: 2013-06-26
Last Modified: 2024-03-29
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Challenge

A job fails with the error:

Failed to prepare guest for hot backup.
Error: VSSControl: -2147212529 
Backup job failed. 
Discovery phase failed. 
Cannot add volumes to the snapshot set. 
Cannot add a volume to the snapshot set. 
Volume name: [\\?\Volume{<guid>}\]. 
Cannot add volume to the set of volumes that should be shadowed. 
VSS error: VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR. Code:0x8004230f

Cause

This error occurs when there is third-party VSS provider present with the machine that is being processed.

During the Application-Aware Processing stage of the Veeam backup job a shadow copy is requested. The Volume Shadow Copy service of the machine being processed handles the creation of that shadow copy. When a third-party provider is present, that provider may fail to create the shadow copy and cause the shadow copy creation process to fail.

To learn more about how the Volume Shadow Copy service operates, review Microsoft Documentation: Volume Shadow Copy Service.

Solution

  1. Connect to the machine that failed to be processed.
  2. Open an elevated command prompt.
  3. Execute the following command to view the list of installed VSS Providers:
vssadmin list providers
Desktop OS
Example of Windows Desktop default providers.
server Example of Windows Server default providers.
hvvmserver
Example of Windows Server default providers from a Hyper-V VM.
 
The unexpected VSS provider causes the error. However, as Veeam cannot account for all possible reasons an environment would have additional VSS providers, we cannot provide direct advice that a VSS provider should be removed. If additional VSS providers are present, users will need to investigate why that VSS provider is present in the environment and determine how to proceed.
 
Note: The Volume Shadow Copy service must stopped before removing a VSS provider.
VSS Related Service Startup Type

It is critical that the following services must have their "Startup Type" set to "Manual"

  • Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
  • Volume Shadow Copy
If either of these services is set to "Disabled" VSS operations will be impacted.

More Information

VSS Provider Location in Registry

A list of installed VSS Providers can be found in the following Registry Key:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Providers\

 

Known Issue: Hyper-V VM Migrated to vSphere

The issue described in this article has been observed when a Hyper-V VM was converted or restored to a VMware environment. Afterward, the now VMware VM still contains the Hyper-V IC Software Shadow Copy Provider, which may cause the VSS_E_UNEXPECTED_PROVIDER_ERROR error. When facing this scenario, customers reported that the error no longer occurred after removing the Hyper-V IC Software Shadow Copy Provider provider.

 

Customer Reported VSS Providers That Impacted Veeam

The following is a non-exhaustive list of VSS providers that Veeam customers have reported had to be removed to resolve the issue described in this article:

  • Data ONTAP VSS Hardware Provider
  • Acronis VSS SW Provider
  • Symantec Software VSS Provider
  • StorageCraft Volume Snapshot Software Provider
  • Backup Exec VSS Provider
  • Dell EqualLogic VSS HW Provider
  • Nimble Storage VSS Provider
  • Azure Site Recovery VSS Provider
  • VSS LifeLine HW Provider
  • HP MSA 1040/2040 VSS Provider
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