In Server 2008 R2, I started a full (not quick) format on an external USB drive. While that was running, I wanted to check the shadow copy setup on some other drives. I right-clicked on a drive in Explorer and selected Configure Shadow Copies…. I got a message telling me it couldn’t display the shadow copy information, and a bunch of nasty messages in the Application event log with discouraging phrases like “catastrophic failure.”
I received some of the same errors the previous night when the backup tried and failed to run. I now realize that this was probably because the system was doing another format.
The Solution
The solution was simple: stop the drive format and try again. In fact, I decided to do a quick format and just run a chkdsk k: /r to make sure the drive is okay.
The Errors
Here are the warnings and errors for future reference/comparison:
Log Name: Application
Source: VSS
Event ID: 12348
Task Category: None
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: VSS was denied access to the root of volume \\?\Volume{b71f33c1-e17e-11df-84e7-001c23bdb7ff}\. Denying administrators from accessing volume roots can cause many unexpected failures, and will prevent VSS from functioning properly. Check security on the volume, and try the operation again.
Operation:
Removing auto-release shadow copies
Loading provider
Context:
Execution Context: System Provider
Log Name: Application
Source: VSS
Event ID: 8193
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine Error calling CreateFile on volume ‘\\?\Volume{b71f33c1-e17e-11df-84e7-001c23bdb7ff}\’. hr = 0x8000ffff, Catastrophic failure.
Log Name: Application
Source: VSS
Event ID: 12293
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on a Shadow Copy Provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. Routine details IVssSnapshotProvider::QueryVolumesSupportedForSnapshots(ProviderId,29,…) [hr = 0x80042302, A Volume Shadow Copy Service component encountered an unexpected error.
Check the Application event log for more information.].
Operation:
Query volumes supported by this provider
Context:
Provider ID: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Snapshot Context: 29
Log Name: Application
Source: VSS
Event ID: 40961
Task Category: None
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
Description:
ASR Warning: Failed to collect disk information for ASR Backup. Reason: Unable to obtain disk information for device 5 (Win32 error code 0x45d).