Acronis VSS Doctor

Free tool for diagnosing and repairing Volume
Shadow Copy Service issues

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10
Windows Server 2003/2008, 2012 and later

Troubleshooting VSS Backup Issues

What is VSS?

Volume Shadow Copy Service (aka VSS, Shadow Copy, or Volume Snapshot Service) is a technology included in Microsoft Windows that allows snapshots of computer files or volumes to be taken, even when they are in use. Most backup software programs rely on this technology to perform their core backup/restore operations.

There are many reasons why VSS might not work properly, which can cause your backup software to fail. When that happens, diagnosing the problem can be a tricky task, even for the most experienced IT professional. Given the number of system components involved, there are countless things you need to check.

Free tool for diagnosing and repairing Volume Shadow Copy Service issues

Acronis’ free tool, Acronis VSS Doctor, helps everyday users, IT professionals and support specialists quickly identify the problem and efficiently fixes the most common Volume Shadow Copy Service issues.

Key features

Diagnose and repair

Configuration and status of VSS-related services: Volume Shadow Copy, Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider, COM+ Event System

Configuration of VSS providers

Access rights for VSS (not supported for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003)

VSS COM-interface registration (not supported for Windows XP)

Configuration of VSS shadow storages (not supported for Windows XP)

Access rights for NTFS volumes

Diagnose only

List of faulted VSS writers

Free space available on disks. Provides drive letter assignment for “hidden” volumes.

Current I/O load of disks

List of VSS-related errors/warnings from Windows Event Log

Report generation

Diagnostics results can be saved as a plain-text report for sharing or future analysis.

Advantages of Acronis VSS Doctor

One-click diagnostic of all VSS components

Automatically collects data from scattered sources into a single report

Easily spots the weak places in the VSS infrastructure

Generates a report with the results of the tests performed

Fixes issues with one-click when a pre-defined solution is available

Why you need a VSS repair tool

If you encounter Volume Shadow Copy Service error or snapshot-like error messages like the ones below, it means the VSS of your backup software failed … and you’ll want to the Acronis VSS Doctor free tool for your shadow copy troubleshooting.

"Volume Shadow Copy Error ..."

"Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy ..."

"Failed to create a snapshot" / "Unable to create volume snapshot"

"VSS writer ... has failed to process the snapshot"

"Snapshot preparation failed"

How to use VSS Doctor Tool

Download the Free VSS repair tool
- For Windows XP/Vista/7, Windows Server 2003/2008: AcronisVSSDoctor-net35.exe
- For Windows 8 and later, Windows Server 2012 and later: AcronisVSSDoctor-net45.exe
Launch the tool (local administrator rights are required)
Click Start Diagnostic and wait until it finishes
Check out sections marked as
Click Save Report if you want to save diagnostic results as a plain-text report
If a Fix Issues button is available, click on it to see the exact solutions proposed by the tool and proceed if you agree
After fixing the found issues, click Start Diagnostic again to check if all the issues were corrected
Retry the backup operation that failed

Download and system requirements

Acronis VSS Doctor
for .NET Framework 3.5

For Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008
For Windows XP/Vista, Windows Server 2003 Please install .NET Framework 3.5

Download Free

Acronis VSS Doctor
for .NET Framework 4.5

For Windows 8 and later / Windows Server 2012 and later

Download Free

Payment

Acronis VSS Doctor is a free tool, and will continue to be offered as a free download.

VSS TOOL FAQ

Q: Is there any functional difference between .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.5 versions?

A: No, both versions are identical. The different versions of .NET Framework were simply built in order to avoid the additional installation of a specific version.

Q: Why does the list of errors in the Event Log section change from run to run?

A: The list of errors in the Event Log section is a subset of Windows Event Log items, which only contain errors and warnings that have been logged during last 24 hours. Older items are removed as time passes and fresh items replace them.

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