Restart VSS-writers manually without server reboot

Hi,

Have you ever experienced problem with snapshot-backup due to failed VSS-writers and you cannot restart your server until after business hour or the next service window?

An alternative solution other than restarting the server is to restart each of the associated services for each of the VSS writers!

Find failed VSS-writers and restart service:

• Find each of the VSS writers in a failed state by issuing this command in an elevated command prompt - vssadmin list writers.
• Make a list of all the failed VSS writers or take a screenshot.
• Find the VSS writer's associated Service Display Name in the table below and restart the service.
• Issue the command again to confirm the status has changed Stable with no Error - vssadmin list writers.
• Attempt to perform another snapshot.
• If the VSS writers fail again, it will be necessary to restart the server.

VSS Writer	Service Name	Service Display Name
ASR Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
BITS Writer	BITS	Background Intelligent Transfer Service
COM+ REGDB Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
DFS Replication service writer	DFSR	DFS Replication
DHCP Jet Writer	DHCPServer	DHCP Server
FRS Writer	NtFrs	File Replication
FSRM writer	srmsvc	File Server Resource Manager
IIS Config Writer	AppHostSvc	Application Host Helper Service
IIS Metabase Writer	IISADMIN	IIS Admin Service
Microsoft Exchange Writer	MSExchangeIS	Microsoft Exchange Information Store
Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer	vmms	Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management
NTDS	NTDS	Active Directory Domain Services
OSearch VSS Writer	OSearch	Office SharePoint Server Search
OSearch14 VSS Writer	OSearch14	SharePoint Server Search 14
Registry Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
Shadow Copy Optimization Writer	VSS	Volume Shadow Copy
SPSearch VSS Writer	SPSearch	Windows SharePoint Services Search
SPSearch4 VSS Writer	SPSearch4	SharePoint Foundation Search V4
SqlServerWriter	SQLWriter	SQL Server VSS Writer
System Writer	CryptSvc	Cryptographic Services
TermServLicensing	TermServLicensing	Remote Desktop Licensing
WINS Jet Writer	WINS	Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
WMI Writer	Winmgmt	Windows Management Instrumentation

Kind Regards
Markus Eliasson