A few days ago I installed V6 on four Win10 PCs (three Dell Desktops and a Dell Laptop. Installs went well and I was able to create full and differential backups. Today a decided to uninstall Acronis True Image 2015 from all four PCs using the Acronis Cleanup Tool. I suspect the created a problem with VSS since now I can no longer make backups unless I boot from a rescue USB.  This is the error information that I get, its the same on all 4 PCs.

Starting Image - Friday, January 27, 2017 17:41:35
	Initializing
	Destination Drive:	Free Space 2.81 TB
	Creating Volume Snapshot - Please Wait
	Failed:	Code: 0x80042316 - Retrying without VSS Writers
	ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->StartSnapshotSet(&m_latestSnapshotSetID)" failed.
	- Returned HRESULT = 0x80042316
	- Error text: VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS
	ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->BackupComplete(&pAsync)" failed.
	- Returned HRESULT = 0x80042301
	- Error text: VSS_E_BAD_STATE
	Gathering Windows Events - Please Wait

---

	Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot. Result Code: 0x80042306

I've tried the following:
Repairing the Macrium program,
Ran the Fix VSS Problems app within Macrium,
SFC, no errors,
Checking the Volume Shadow Copy service, its set to Automatic and is running.
I suspect that the Acronis Cleanup Tool has damaged VSS or possibly another supporting service(s).
This is the text of the related VSS Error Event is 12289, the semaphore timeout period has expired. Operation: Processing EndPrepareSnapshotContext  Ecexution Context: System Provider.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: After realizing that I could no longer create restore points due to the issue with VSS, I restored all 4 PCs to a point in time right before I used the Acronis Cleanup Tool so VSS is now working. The bad news is that I now have Acronis 2015 back on my system. Does anyone know how to uninstall Acronis 2015 without trashing the VSS? 

The normal Windows procedure for uninstalling an application should get rid of it with the possible exception of its insertions of upper and lower filters on the disk device class {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} and/or the volume device class {71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}.  Extreme caution is advised against any attempt at manual removal of those device class filter entries in the Windows registry or the related system files.  Removal of the latter while the former remain in place may render your system completely unbootable.

Uninstall "leftovers" are a longstanding issue, but not having installed recent Acronis product versions in quite some time, I can't be more specific than that.  You might (or might not) have better luck in their user forums.

Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")

Hi Richard and thanks for your reply. Tomorrow I'll do another full system image on one of my PCs and see if a simple product uninstall, without using the Acronis Cleanup Tool, will remove most of Acronis. The Acronis Cleanup Tool is obviously way too aggressive. Any removal tool that renders you unable to create system restore points is just plane crazy. I'll check out the Acronis Forum to see if they might have any suggestions.

UPDATE: I uninstalled Macrium and then Acronis using their normal uninstallers. I did not use the Acronis Cleanup Tool as I believe it to be much too aggressive and not intended for simple uninstalls. It is likely that it damaged the Macrium installation as it was still installed on my system when I ran the Cleanup Tool. It also damaged the VSS to the point that restore points were no longer functioning.

I've reinstalled Macrium and it is working just fine. Its a great program. I really like the interface and it does a great job of finding the NASs on my home network, something that Acronis struggled with for a long time. I also created system restore points at each step to be sure that VSS was working correctly and I am happy to report that it is functional as well.  Lessons learned are that I should probably not installed have installed Macrium until I uninstalled Acronis and I should not have used the Acronis Cleanup Tool in lieu of the programs uninstaller.
Bob

Although I keep an ATI copy on my multi-purpose WinPE "rescue" disks, it has been quite some time since I've actually installed/uninstalled the application in my regular Windows working environment.  I do recall, however, its leaving behind device class filters as I mentioned above and the Acronis so-called "Clean-Up Tool" was released by them as a standalone utility for precisely that reason following numerous user complaints including my own.  In fact, the situation becomes even more muddled if you install any additional application (such as their disk manager) that uses the same device class filters in the Windows registry as drivers started (start=0x00000000) by the system loader.  Any disordered removal attempt can be disastrous.

So, if you've "reinstalled Macrium and it is working just fine", I'd just leave at that if I were you.  AFAIK, you've probably achieved the best result that can be expected in the circumstances.  The mere residual existence of the ATI drivers themselves (if any) should not interfere with any of Reflect's backup and restore functionality.


Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")

I was consistently receiving the error code and not getting backup images to succeed.  Rather than uninstall and reinstall, I tried going into Task Manager (Windows 10) and ending all Macrium processes.  I then restarted Macrium (double clicked) and was able to get a successful full backup, followed by a differential and am about to try an incremental -- my backup plan is full monthly, differential weekly and incremental daily.  I don't know if I've caused any problems by doing this, but is was a very easy solution to at least apparently resolve so I thought I'd pass it on.  If anyone thinks I caused some issue that will keep the backup image from being effective if needed, please post a reply.  Finally, to be clear, I did all this without a restart.

@jeffm

Thanks for posting.  VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS means that another program has created a snapshot of the same volume(s) that you are backing up with Macrium Reflect.  MR can't create simultaneous backups and the snapshots it creates are 'Auto Delete' which means they don't exist after the backup has finished.  If you have another backup program that creates regular snapshots then this can cause this issue as well as Windows updates running when the backup starts. Please see here for more information:

http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW7/VSS+error%3A+VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS

Kind Regards

Nick - Macrium Support