[antispam246 1]

Hi again! I mentioned this in my introductory post but have a more specific query regarding it now.

One of my backups on my main pc has always failed with the following error,

"The Backup Failed because your computer was unable to create a volume snapshot. To resolve this problem, try running "chkdsk /f /r" on each of your hard drives and restart your computer."

as I stated elsewhere, I reseacrhed this problem and it's obviously a very common problem with no definitive solution.

After trying various things and looking around more I found out something else,

My main PC which fails to backup has 2 physical hard drives. The main HDD has 4 partitions, which are as follows;

C:/ (operating system)
P:/ (applications for OS)
both C: and P: are NTFS

The other 2 partitions are hidden, computer management displays them as;

1) Basic - FAT - Healthy (EISA Conifguration) 47mb
2) Basic - FAT32 - Healthy (Unknown partition) 4.63gb

Now this obviously raises questions regarding the issue of backups failing. Neither of these latter 2 partitions, obviously, are accessible, would they cause the problems with backing up?

What's the best way to go about fixing this?
- Should I attempt to convert them using Convert.exe which is listed in WHS tech brief? Would this cause any problems?
- What exactly are these partitions? This PC is a dell system so could one possible be related to Dell congifuration? Do I need it?
- Could I just delete them or convert with another app, like Acronis Disk Manager? Then re-establish them into one partiton or join them onto an existing partition as NTFS?
- Would deleting or converting either of them cause boot issues or other issues to my system?

As I have 2 physical hard disks, would it be worth trying to backup the second HDD which has 2 NTFS partitions only to see if it works then? Would this actually establish anything either way, or would WHS still consider the other HDD with a different file system on a hidden partition?

[Evaders99]

WHS will ignore non-NFTS partitions. FAT partitions hould not be causing those errors.

I can only suggest not deleting them. Dell probably uses those partitions to store its service and recovery program.
You could potentially delete your bootable partition and require reinstallation.

I assume at this point, you've run chkdsk many times? Run manufacturer's disk utilities? Tried different controller cards? etc

[Dave Marchant (WGS)]

Generally on a Dell the smaller hidden partition is a diagnostic area and the larger one holds the images to return the system to 'as delivered fresh install'. There should not be a problem in deleting them, but that isn't causing your problem so don't touch them unless you are desperate to recover that disk space.

Volume Snapshot is the issue here. I noticed you mentioned Acronis - do you have that installed as that can cause the problem?

Were the NTFS partitions you have converted from FAT32 at some time? Again, that can cause the problem and the only fix I am currently aware of is a reinstall of the OS on the PC straight onto an NTFS partition.

It is likely Volume Snapshot won't work for either drive as I would tend to believe it is more likely to be a software registration issue.

Have you tried this:-

1. From command prompt:

Cd windows\system32
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll ------- I was able to register it, before Iwas getting error 0x8000ffff 
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
regsvr32 vssui.dll -------- I had XP, I guess this should work for 2003 only.
regsvr32 msxml.dll -------- the last 3 depend on what [url="http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t70962.html#"]XML[/url] versions you have installed.
regsvr32 msxml3.dll -------- if you get error here, re-install corresponding XML version
regsvr32 msxml4.dll

I acknowledge this has been lifted out of this thread on the Microsoft WHS forum - http://social.micros...b-5a532abee087/

[antispam246 1]

Dave Marchant (WGS), on 19 January 2010 - 07:08 PM, said:

Generally on a Dell the smaller hidden partition is a diagnostic area and the larger one holds the images to return the system to 'as delivered fresh install'. There should not be a problem in deleting them, but that isn't causing your problem so don't touch them unless you are desperate to recover that disk space.

Volume Snapshot is the issue here. I noticed you mentioned Acronis - do you have that installed as that can cause the problem?

Were the NTFS partitions you have converted from FAT32 at some time? Again, that can cause the problem and the only fix I am currently aware of is a reinstall of the OS on the PC straight onto an NTFS partition.

It is likely Volume Snapshot won't work for either drive as I would tend to believe it is more likely to be a software registration issue.

Have you tried this:-

1. From command prompt:

Cd windows\system32
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll ------- I was able to register it, before Iwas getting error 0x8000ffff 
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
regsvr32 vssui.dll -------- I had XP, I guess this should work for 2003 only.
regsvr32 msxml.dll -------- the last 3 depend on what [url="http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t70962.html#"]XML[/url] versions you have installed.
regsvr32 msxml3.dll -------- if you get error here, re-install corresponding XML version
regsvr32 msxml4.dll

I acknowledge this has been lifted out of this thread on the Microsoft WHS forum - http://social.micros...b-5a532abee087/

Oh my god, it appears to be working. Thank you! I'll try to expalin how I got it working as I had to perform several other steps and I have about 20 tabs open with various info.

I initially tried as you suggested but it didn't work, failed on
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll
So I went through to the link (source) then then from there, to another link (soruce of the source)
http://www.msfn.org/...sha-t70962.html

At the bottom of this thread is a post by Oleg Zhuravkin who posts what he did initially before the above steps. The following is acredited to Oleg;

Quote

1) Deleted registry entry for SwPrv. (In fact some application deleted the service before, but I've imported it from the other computer). This is to allow COM+ app import later.
2) Deleted com3 key and COM+ folders as per messages and links above. Rebooted. This is to re-install COM+
3) Re-installed COM+ as per links above and MS recommendations. Now I was able to expand Component Services down to My Computer, but there was no MS Provider application there.
4) From the working computer with the same OS version I've exported MS Software Shadow Copy Provider application. To do so, Start Component Services, expand to "COM+ Applications", right-click on "MS ... Provider" name and choose "Export" from the menu. On the next screen choose "Export user identities with roles"
It will ask you for file name and location and it will create MSI package.
Copy the package to the troubled computer.
5) On the computer-in-need:
- start component services
- expand to "my computer" node
- right-click on "COM+ Applications" and choose "new" --> "Application"
- choose "Install pre-built application" button and navigate to the MSI package. Keep all defaults.
After the process completes, there is proper COM+ application as well as the service installed.
If there is any errors during the process, there is some left-over running and it is necessary to clean the registry and reboot then repeat COM+ install.

At this point you should be able to start both Shadow Copy-ralated services.
I had correct reply yto vssadmin list providers (it was error 0x8000ffff before)
I was getting an error 0x8000ffff in reply to vssadmin list writers and Event ID 8193 was logged in the App log. Backup was working at this point but without Shadow Copy.

As some steps were sketchy to myself, I researched more and came across a similar guide by "Peter Snow"
http://forum.soft32....pict358383.html

This allowed me to fill in some holes. I had to establish how exactly to rebuild the COM+ apps so further research lead me to this article
http://thirdshelf.co...he-com-catalog/

Finally came back to
http://social.micros...b-5a532abee087/
as initially linked in the above reply, to cover issues with msxml registration which i'll cover below.

I had to source a few other queries which I cannot fully source as my tab history is too indepth.
One other key source was this
http://groups.google...9a95c0ac4a7a9b2
which includes further steps on reinstalling COM+

Ok, credit goes to all above as sourced. This is how I did it
My issue is stated in initial post and I'm running Windows XP MCE 2005 Edition with SP3

1) Backed up (Export) and then delete registry entry for SwPrv. (Location is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SwPrv)
2) Backed up (Export) and then delete registry entry for com3 key. (Location is: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\COM3)
3) In Explorer navigate to \WINDOWS\System32 locate the file "clbcatq.dll" and rename it "~clbcatq.dll" (without quotes)
4) Reboot
5) Rebuild the COM+ app;
a) Open a command prompt
B) Type cd %windir% and hit ENTER (this will open your WINDOWS path) i.e C:/WINDOWS
c) Now type rmdir /s Registration and hit ENTER, it will ask you to confirm type "y" and hit ENTER
d) Go to "Control Panel" -> "Add/Remove Programs" -> "Add/Remove Windows Components" hit "NEXT" and it should start installing the COM+ apps
You may find during this process that it fails to find/install several files, I researhed this and apparently it's normal, you can basically ignore it by cancelling then it will ask if you wish to continue setup and ignore. I had to do this for about 3 files.
6) Go to "Control Panel" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "Component Services" -> "Computers" -> "My Computer" -> "COM+ Applications"
7) In the left hand pane right-click on "COM+ Applications" then select "New" -> "Application"
I'll come back to part 7) soon, something else is required first, I did read that you can do this from the same PC but another guide prompted to do it from a PC that is known to be working, i.e. having no issues with backups and running on the same operating system. Fortunately for me my brothers desktop ran on Win XP MCE, same Edition so I used his PC to do the following;
8) On the working PC:
a) Go to "Control Panel" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "Component Services" -> "Computers" -> "My Computer" -> "COM+ Applications"
B) In the right-hand pane right click on "MS Software Shadow Copy Provider" and choose "Export" this will open a wizard
c) I left everything as default, choose a name for the file and a location to save it, then finish.
9) Going back to part 7) Click "Install pre-built application"
10) Navigate to where you saved the working MSI package (from working pc), choose it and leave everything else as default.
11) Complete the wizard to re-install the package
12) Reboot
13) Open a command prompt and follow the previously mentioned steps

Cd windows\system32
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll ------- I was able to register it, before Iwas getting error 0x8000ffff
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
regsvr32 vssui.dll -------- I had XP, I guess this should work for 2003 only.
regsvr32 msxml.dll -------- the last 3 depend on what XML versions you have installed.
regsvr32 msxml3.dll -------- if you get error here, re-install corresponding XML version
regsvr32 msxml4.dll

I could now get past the regsvr32 /i swprv.dll step. regsvr32 vssui.dll did not work as suggested, for only win2k3. My next problem was with the XML parsers. Researching suggested trying pretty much all of them to see which worked. That didn't seem to work for me so this is what I did next.

14) Navigate to msxml3.msi. This is the dwonload page for the latest xml package (SP 7). Download and install and reboot.
15) Open command prompt again and assuming you've already done all the above steps just skip straight to attempting to register msxml.dll
This time I tried regsvr32 mxxml6.dll as I checked my system32 folder and that appeared to be the most recent one, it worked.

After this I re-attempted to backup this PC which has never ever worked and guess what, it worked!

I would advise heavily that read through all the sourced links if you wish to attempt this, this is merely how it worked for me. so many thanks to one and all.


One issue that came of this. When I ran the backup configuration on the now working pc, when it gets to the "excluded folders" part, it no longer lists the generic excluded folder (grayed). I'm not sure why. Can someone list the locations of the folders for all the genericly excluded folders so I can add them manually. I'm assuming it should be simply fixed by manually adding them, unless you know of a reason why WHS would no longer be listing them.