Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Reflect version: 6.3 (Build 1849)

Incremental backup fails near the end of the image creation (and before verification) with the following message.

"Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

VSS log shows several errors and warnings (posted in its entirety at the bottom of this note).

The errors and warnings all pertain to       volume '\\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\'  

This volume is a special hidden "Q" drive, I believe associated with Microsoft Office 2010.

Sometimes . . . the backup succeeds, but most of the time it fails. When it fails, sometimes (not always) the new incremental image is seen in the backup directory, still with the .tmp suffix (e.g. 83B2B2C62F80A3CC-41-41.mrimg.tmp) so the ironic thing is that the backup actually succeeded, but the failure of the process to complete normally renders it unusable as Reflect does not remember it as a valid incremental file. 

This is proving very irksome. Can anyone help me with some insight as to what's wrong. I am a programmer by trade so have tried quite a lot of "this and that" but without any success. It does appear that this "Q:" drive (seen in "mountvol" as per here) is the culprit, but it has been there all through the life of the laptop and this problem has only recently started happening. 

  \\?\Volume{10b5181c-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\
   *** NO MOUNT POINTS ***

  \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\
   C:\

  \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\
   D:\

  \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\
   E:\

  \\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\
   Q:\

  \\?\Volume{10b5182a-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\
   F:\

If I execute the command vssadmin list volumes I also get an error:

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list volumes
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process
the specified command.

I would really appreciate the help. May daily backups have become a nightmare as I have to rerun in the "hope" that they might work next time. And I have no idea what governs whether they complete or not.

I really need to sort it out. So thank you in advance!

Mike

Here is the complete VSS log.

=====================
======================

(Gathering writer metadata...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Initialize writer metadata ...
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
Discover directly excluded components ...
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
Discover components that reside outside the shadow set ...
Discover all excluded components ...
Discover excluded writers ...
Discover explicitly included components ...
Verifying explicitly specified writers/components ...
Select explicitly included components ...
* Writer 'Task Scheduler Writer':
 - Add component \TasksStore
* Writer 'VSS Metadata Store Writer':
 - Add component \WriterMetadataStore
* Writer 'Performance Counters Writer':
 - Add component \PerformanceCounters
* Writer 'Registry Writer':
 - Add component \Registry
* Writer 'COM+ REGDB Writer':
 - Add component \COM+ REGDB
Creating shadow set {bf8005da-2edc-4cf3-b480-f1cd503f9d1a} ...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\] to the shadow set...
Preparing for backup ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Shadow copy set succesfully created.
Saving the backup components document ...

List of created shadow copies:


Querying all shadow copies with the SnapshotSetID {bf8005da-2edc-4cf3-b480-f1cd503f9d1a} ...

* SNAPSHOT ID = {b1bd6568-9545-42a0-86e3-e92b191e35ed} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {bf8005da-2edc-4cf3-b480-f1cd503f9d1a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/4/2018 9:19:15 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy21
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {f6364306-2ea6-418f-bda8-054c933e751c} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {bf8005da-2edc-4cf3-b480-f1cd503f9d1a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/4/2018 9:19:15 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy22
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {e0ec4c9d-bf8b-4b5d-8e9b-3b4f039acc54} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {bf8005da-2edc-4cf3-b480-f1cd503f9d1a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/4/2018 9:19:15 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy23
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential


Windows Events
*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:07 AM
Type  Error
Event  12293
Source  VSS

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

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:07 AM
Type  Error
Event  8193
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine Error calling CreateFile on volume '\\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\'. hr = 0x8000ffff, Catastrophic failure
.

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:07 AM
Type  Warning
Event  12348
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: VSS was denied access to the root of volume \\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\. 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.

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:00 AM
Type  Error
Event  12293
Source  VSS

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

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:00 AM
Type  Error
Event  8193
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine Error calling CreateFile on volume '\\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\'. hr = 0x8000ffff, Catastrophic failure
.

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:39:00 AM
Type  Warning
Event  12348
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: VSS was denied access to the root of volume \\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\. 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.

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:19:12 AM
Type  Warning
Event  12348
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: VSS was denied access to the root of volume \\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\. 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:
 Automatically choosing a diff-area volume
 Processing EndPrepareSnapshots

Context:
 Execution Context: System Provider

*****************************
Date  1/4/2018 9:19:12 AM
Type  Warning
Event  12348
Source  VSS

Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: VSS was denied access to the root of volume \\?\Volume{3d9c07e1-93cd-11e1-9adf-80c16e4b86d2}\. 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:
 Automatically choosing a diff-area volume
 Processing EndPrepareSnapshots

Context:
 Execution Context: System Provider

P.S. Here is the content of the regular log file. 

Imaging Summary


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backup Definition File: c:\users\ml_private\documents\reflect\c_drive_all_partitions.xml
Auto Verify: Y
Maximum File Size: Automatic
Compression: High
Password: N
Intelligent Copy: Y
Power Saving: N
Email On Success: Y
Recipients: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Email On Failure: Y
Recipients: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Total Selected: 359.81 GB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retention Rules
Rules will be applied to all matching backup sets in the destination folder

Full: Retain full images for 14 Weeks
Linked incremental and differential images will also be deleted

Backup Sets: 1 sets found
Nothing to delete

Incremental: Retain incremental images for 98 Days
The oldest incremental images may be consolidated

Incremental Backups: 40 found



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Destination:
Backup Type: Incremental
File Name: Append to recent image in directory '\\DESKTOP-ELRKKSK\PAVILION G7 Macrium Reflect Backups\'
Attempting to connect to: '\\DESKTOP-ELRKKSK\PAVILION G7 Macrium Reflect Backups'
Successfully connected
\\DESKTOP-ELRKKSK\PAVILION G7 Macrium Reflect Backups\83B2B2C62F80A3CC-41-41.mrimg


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation 1 of 4
Hard Disk: 1
Drive Letter: N/A
File System: NTFS
Label: SYSTEM
Size: 199.0 MB
Free: 125.8 MB
Used: 73.2 MB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation 2 of 4
Hard Disk: 1
Drive Letter: C
File System: NTFS
Label:
Size: 881.30 GB
Free: 542.82 GB
Used: 338.49 GB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation 3 of 4
Hard Disk: 1
Drive Letter: D
File System: NTFS
Label: Recovery
Size: 19.95 GB
Free: 1.58 GB
Used: 18.37 GB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operation 4 of 4
Hard Disk: 1
Drive Letter: E
File System: FAT32 (LBA)
Label: HP_TOOLS
Size: 30.01 GB
Free: 27.13 GB
Used: 2.88 GB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting Image - Thursday, January 04, 2018 09:19:09
Initializing
Destination Drive: Free Space 482.22 GB
Free space threshold: Delete oldest backup sets when free space is less than 250.00 GB

Creating Volume Snapshot - Please Wait
Volume Snapshots Created
Analyzing file system on volume
Analyzing file system on volume C:
Analyzing file system on volume D:
Analyzing file system on volume E:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving Partition - SYSTEM
Reading File System Bitmap
Looking for changes
Saving Partition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving Partition - (C
Reading File System Bitmap
Looking for changes
Saving Partition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving Partition - Recovery (D
Reading File System Bitmap
Looking for changes
Saving Partition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saving Partition - HP_TOOLS (E
Reading File System Bitmap
Saving Partition


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gathering Windows Events - Please Wait


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email Notifications
Recipients: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Email notification sent


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I/O Performance: Read 495.2 Mb/s - Write 75.5 Mb/s

Interesting that VSS errors pertaining to a Q: drive are causing this backup to stumble even though you're not even trying to capture an image of that volume.  As a potential quick fix, have you already tried the Other Tasks > Fix VSS Problems option within Reflect?  Otherwise, is there some way of getting your Office installation to stop creating this virtual Q drive?

+x

 

jphughan - 4 January 2018 4:50 PM

Interesting that VSS errors pertaining to a Q: drive are causing this backup to stumble even though you're not even trying to capture an image of that volume.  As a potential quick fix, have you already tried the Other Tasks > Fix VSS Problems option within Reflect?  Otherwise, is there some way of getting your Office installation to stop creating this virtual Q drive?

I have tried the Macrium Fix VSS option. No change.

I don't want to uninstall Office (obviously). The really frustrating thing is that the image file is right there as a tmp. It is a shame there is not a way to manually append an incremental to a set (just renaming it from tmp is no good, of course, as Reflect has no knowledge or record of it after the process fails.     

Yeah, this is the first I've heard of a VSS error derailing a backup at the very end rather than the beginning.  I wasn't suggesting permanently uninstalling Office 2010, but rather uninstalling and reinstalling in a way that doesn't involve Click-to-Run, since that seems to be what triggers this Q drive.  It's been a while since I've installed Office 2010, but I believe if you simply choose to either install or not install all of the components, rather than selecting "This component will be installed when it is first launched", then you'll avoid Click-to-Run.  If you still have your Office 2010 installer, it may be worth a shot, although your next Windows Update session will probably include a wall of Office updates.

+x

 

MikePA24 - 4 January 2018 5:48 PM

+x

 

jphughan - 4 January 2018 4:50 PM

Interesting that VSS errors pertaining to a Q: drive are causing this backup to stumble even though you're not even trying to capture an image of that volume.  As a potential quick fix, have you already tried the Other Tasks > Fix VSS Problems option within Reflect?  Otherwise, is there some way of getting your Office installation to stop creating this virtual Q drive?

I have tried the Macrium Fix VSS option. No change.

I don't want to uninstall Office (obviously). The really frustrating thing is that the image file is right there as a tmp. It is a shame there is not a way to manually append an incremental to a set (just renaming it from tmp is no good, of course, as Reflect has no knowledge or record of it after the process fails.     

Hi

VSS isn't the problem here. The error "Write operation failed - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. "  indicates that another process has exclusively locked the image file on the backup drive and prevented a write operation. 

Are you runing any Anti-Virus software, if so please can you add 'ReflectBin.exe' and the backup target folder to any exclusions or whitelists. 


Kind Regards

Nick - Macrium Support

+x

 

Nick - 4 January 2018 7:00 PM

+x

 

MikePA24 - 4 January 2018 5:48 PM

+x

 

jphughan - 4 January 2018 4:50 PM

Interesting that VSS errors pertaining to a Q: drive are causing this backup to stumble even though you're not even trying to capture an image of that volume.  As a potential quick fix, have you already tried the Other Tasks > Fix VSS Problems option within Reflect?  Otherwise, is there some way of getting your Office installation to stop creating this virtual Q drive?

I have tried the Macrium Fix VSS option. No change.

I don't want to uninstall Office (obviously). The really frustrating thing is that the image file is right there as a tmp. It is a shame there is not a way to manually append an incremental to a set (just renaming it from tmp is no good, of course, as Reflect has no knowledge or record of it after the process fails.     

Hi

VSS isn't the problem here. The error "Write operation failed - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. "  indicates that another process has exclusively locked the image file on the backup drive and prevented a write operation. 

Are you runing any Anti-Virus software, if so please can you add 'ReflectBin.exe' and the backup target folder to any exclusions or whitelists. 

The target folder is on another computer in the Homegroup. On the laptop (hosting Reflect in this case) I have a very light AV/A-malware using BitDefender Free. Being free it does not (appear) to offer any form of file exclusion, just a URL exclusion. (It would not be absolutely the end of the earth to uninstall that and see if it made any difference) On the computer hosting the location of the backup files I have put the folder hosting the backup files as an exclusion although not ReflectBin.exe as (of course) it is not on that machine.

One thing to mention (taking what you say fully on board) is when the backup DOES succeed (and up until now it usually has every 3-4-5th attempt---I haven't had any luck today, though) the VSS log does not feature any of these error messages for the Q drive. In fact no errors or warnings at all. Here is the VSS log for a successful backup. (follows). You say "not VSS" but wouldn't one expect those errors and warnings to still be present when the backup succeeds,  if they were unrelated to the failure? 

Thank you. 

Mike

=============================
(Gathering writer metadata...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Initialize writer metadata ...
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
Discover directly excluded components ...
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'MSSearch Service Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
Discover components that reside outside the shadow set ...
Discover all excluded components ...
Discover excluded writers ...
Discover explicitly included components ...
Verifying explicitly specified writers/components ...
Select explicitly included components ...
* Writer 'Task Scheduler Writer':
 - Add component \TasksStore
* Writer 'VSS Metadata Store Writer':
 - Add component \WriterMetadataStore
* Writer 'Performance Counters Writer':
 - Add component \PerformanceCounters
* Writer 'Registry Writer':
 - Add component \Registry
* Writer 'COM+ REGDB Writer':
 - Add component \COM+ REGDB
* Writer 'WMI Writer':
 - Add component \WMI
Creating shadow set {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a} ...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\] to the shadow set...
Preparing for backup ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Shadow copy set succesfully created.
Saving the backup components document ...

List of created shadow copies:


Querying all shadow copies with the SnapshotSetID {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a} ...

* SNAPSHOT ID = {85d0470f-6529-40ca-ab5e-194d5ca17b35} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy40
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {fcfbf8f0-80b2-4dbc-b2b3-a75e038b1649} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy41
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {1e09238b-9423-4382-9207-95d860c20ddd} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy42
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential .   

+x

 

jphughan - 4 January 2018 6:06 PM

Yeah, this is the first I've heard of a VSS error derailing a backup at the very end rather than the beginning.  I wasn't suggesting permanently uninstalling Office 2010, but rather uninstalling and reinstalling in a way that doesn't involve Click-to-Run, since that seems to be what triggers this Q drive.  It's been a while since I've installed Office 2010, but I believe if you simply choose to either install or not install all of the components, rather than selecting "This component will be installed when it is first launched", then you'll avoid Click-to-Run.  If you still have your Office 2010 installer, it may be worth a shot, although your next Windows Update session will probably include a wall of Office updates.

Unfortunately, the Office 2010 install disk has gone the way of all flesh. I have tried to uninstall the 2010 Office Starter Edition --- someone said it was the Q: drive's reason for being there (because I have the full edition installed on top). But the uninstall fails. 

I have seen talk of a way to fully "cloak" the Q: using group policy (so that Reflect would not, i assume, know of or look at it) but it is a bit opaque, that info, and a lot of the references are quite old.

+x

 

Nick - 4 January 2018 9:37 PM

+x

 

MikePA24 - 4 January 2018 8:50 PM

+x

 

Nick - 4 January 2018 7:00 PM

+x

 

MikePA24 - 4 January 2018 5:48 PM

+x

 

jphughan - 4 January 2018 4:50 PM

Interesting that VSS errors pertaining to a Q: drive are causing this backup to stumble even though you're not even trying to capture an image of that volume.  As a potential quick fix, have you already tried the Other Tasks > Fix VSS Problems option within Reflect?  Otherwise, is there some way of getting your Office installation to stop creating this virtual Q drive?

I have tried the Macrium Fix VSS option. No change.

I don't want to uninstall Office (obviously). The really frustrating thing is that the image file is right there as a tmp. It is a shame there is not a way to manually append an incremental to a set (just renaming it from tmp is no good, of course, as Reflect has no knowledge or record of it after the process fails.     

Hi

VSS isn't the problem here. The error "Write operation failed - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. "  indicates that another process has exclusively locked the image file on the backup drive and prevented a write operation. 

Are you runing any Anti-Virus software, if so please can you add 'ReflectBin.exe' and the backup target folder to any exclusions or whitelists. 

The target folder is on another computer in the Homegroup. On the laptop (hosting Reflect in this case) I have a very light AV/A-malware using BitDefender Free. Being free it does not (appear) to offer any form of file exclusion, just a URL exclusion. (It would not be absolutely the end of the earth to uninstall that and see if it made any difference) On the computer hosting the location of the backup files I have put the folder hosting the backup files as an exclusion although not ReflectBin.exe as (of course) it is not on that machine.

One thing to mention (taking what you say fully on board) is when the backup DOES succeed (and up until now it usually has every 3-4-5th attempt---I haven't had any luck today, though) the VSS log does not feature any of these error messages for the Q drive. In fact no errors or warnings at all. Here is the VSS log for a successful backup. (follows). You say "not VSS" but wouldn't one expect those errors and warnings to still be present when the backup succeeds,  if they were unrelated to the failure? 

Thank you. 

Mike

=============================
(Gathering writer metadata...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Initialize writer metadata ...
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
Discover directly excluded components ...
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'MSSearch Service Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
Discover components that reside outside the shadow set ...
Discover all excluded components ...
Discover excluded writers ...
Discover explicitly included components ...
Verifying explicitly specified writers/components ...
Select explicitly included components ...
* Writer 'Task Scheduler Writer':
 - Add component \TasksStore
* Writer 'VSS Metadata Store Writer':
 - Add component \WriterMetadataStore
* Writer 'Performance Counters Writer':
 - Add component \PerformanceCounters
* Writer 'Registry Writer':
 - Add component \Registry
* Writer 'COM+ REGDB Writer':
 - Add component \COM+ REGDB
* Writer 'WMI Writer':
 - Add component \WMI
Creating shadow set {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a} ...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\] to the shadow set...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\] to the shadow set...
Preparing for backup ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Shadow copy set succesfully created.
Saving the backup components document ...

List of created shadow copies:


Querying all shadow copies with the SnapshotSetID {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a} ...

* SNAPSHOT ID = {85d0470f-6529-40ca-ab5e-194d5ca17b35} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{10b5181d-9400-11e1-9a76-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy40
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {fcfbf8f0-80b2-4dbc-b2b3-a75e038b1649} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc7-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [D:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy41
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential

* SNAPSHOT ID = {1e09238b-9423-4382-9207-95d860c20ddd} ...
 - Shadow copy Set: {0a1892d4-31d4-45f5-8067-275d61418e8a}
 - Original count of shadow copies = 3
 - Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{ce5b7bc8-9b14-11e3-aad1-806e6f6e6963}\ [E:\]
 - Creation Time: 1/3/2018 11:39:41 AM
 - Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy42
 - Originating machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Service machine: PAVILIONG7
 - Not Exposed
 - Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
 - Attributes: Auto_Release Differential .   

Thanks for getting back.

The failure of the backup was not caused by VSS.  All write operations during the backup are writing the image file not reading the shadow copy. I understand that the VSS events look like the cause, but in this case they are not. Those events may not even be related to the shadow copies used by the backup but were triggered while the backup was running by another process. 

sometimes (not always) the new incremental image is seen in the backup directory, still with the .tmp suffix (e.g. 83B2B2C62F80A3CC-41-41.mrimg.tmp)

That can only happen if Reflect has been denied Write and Delete as 'tmp' files are removed on backup failure. 

Is this link relevant to your installation of BitDefender:

https://www.bitdefender.com/support/how-to-add-antivirus-exclusions-(exceptions)-in-bitdefender-2017-1784.html

The file locking could be caused by either the PC hosting the share or the PC running Reflect.

OK Nick. Understood (your comment on the tmp file remaining is well taken).

Looks like the FREE version does not offer those same features, unfortunately (you get what you pay for).

I may try a run with BitDefender OFF . . .

Failing that, possibly with it completely uninstalled. As I think of it, I don't think I saw these errors prior to having it installed (relatively recently . . . a couple of months). 

I will report back. 

Thank you.