VSS Error: VSS_E_VOLUME_NOT_SUPPORTED_BY_PROVIDER - Backup for Files

Written By Tami Sutcliffe (Super Administrator)

Updated at July 28th, 2021

Situation:

In the Online Backup Manager logs you find the following entries:

2014-12-11 01:02:52 INFO: Initializing open file backup [C:\] [X:\] {VSS-WS03.dll}
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->AddToSnapshotSet((LPWSTR)volume.c_str(), ProviderID, &SnapshotID)" failed.
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Returned HRESULT = 0x8004230e
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Error text: VSS_E_VOLUME_NOT_SUPPORTED_BY_PROVIDER
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Please turn on the Open File Backup Tracing option, re-run the backup, and send the log file to technical support.
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->AddToSnapshotSet((LPWSTR)volume.c_str(), ProviderID, &SnapshotID)" failed.
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Returned HRESULT = 0x8004230e
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Error text: VSS_E_VOLUME_NOT_SUPPORTED_BY_PROVIDER
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: VSS: ERROR: - Please turn on the Open File Backup Tracing option, re-run the backup, and send the log file to technical support.
2014-12-11 01:02:53 INFO: Open file for backup for Replication Data cannot be initialized: 0x8004230E[VSS_E_VOLUME_NOT_SUPPORTED_BY_PROVIDER] [X:\VolumeImages][\\?\Volume{258f6082-64ae-4450-abf5-2ec16e790a4a}\]

 

The log might not have any additional errors, or you might find "open file" errors such as 0x40002 or 0x30000 describing problems accessing a file because it was changed or was being accessed by another process.

 

Solution:

The crucial piece of information here is "VSS_E_VOLUME_NOT_SUPPORTED_BY_PROVIDER" and which operating system is involved.  This might be a similar situation for anything prior to Windows Server 2012 and so you can use these same steps; however, if it is Windows Server 2012, then the first thing to look for is what providers are on the system.

  1. Open command prompt as administrator and run the "vssadmin list providers" command.  You should see the output similar to the following:
    • C:\Windows\system32> vssadmin list providers
      vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
      (C) Copyright 2001-2012 Microsoft Corp.

      Provider name: 'Microsoft File Share Shadow Copy provider'
      Provider type: Fileshare
      Provider Id: {89300202-3cec-4981-9171-19f59559e0f2}
      Version: 1.0.0.1

      Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
      Provider type: System
      Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
      Version: 1.0.0.7

       

  2. In the Online Backup Manager, go to Options > Backup tab > Open File Backup. 
  3. Look for the "Volume Shadow Copy Provider".  
    • Note: You can get more information about this setting by clicking on the setting name. 
  4. The default for this setting should be blank.  The software suggests "*=Microsoft" (no quotes) as a common value; however, because Server 2012 and newer contains TWO Microsoft providers, the desired value should be modified to "*=Microsoft Software" (no quotes) as seen in the output from the "vssadmin list providers" command.

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