VSS Writers and Corresponding Service Table

Sometimes the VSS writers are in a failed state and they need to be restarted.  Below is a list of which server goes with which writer so you know what to restart.  ##Important## take a screen cap of all of your Vss writers before you start.  open a command prompt with elevated permissions “run as administrator” and then type vssadmin list writers.

Sometimes after you restart one of the failed writers no writers show up when you check them again.  Just go through the list one more time and restart the services and the writers come back.

 

VSS Writers and Corresponding Service Table

VSS WriterService NameService Display Name
ADAM $instanceName WriterADAM_$instanceName$instanceName
ASR WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
BITS WriterBITSBackground Intelligent Transfer Service
Certificate AuthorityCertSvcActive Directory Certificate Services
COM+ REGDB WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
DFS Replication service writerDFSRDFS Replication
DHCP Jet WriterDHCPServerDHCP Server
FRS WriterNtFrsFile Replication
FSRM writersrmsvcFile Server Resource Manager
IIS Config WriterAppHostSvcApplication Host Helper Service
IIS Metabase WriterIISADMINIIS Admin Service
Microsoft Exchange Replica WriterMSExchangeReplMicrosoft Exchange Replication Service
Microsoft Exchange WriterMSExchangeISMicrosoft Exchange Information Store
Microsoft Hyper-V VSS WritervmmsHyper-V Virtual Machine Management
MSMQ Writer (MSMQ)MSMQMessage Queuing
MSSearch Service WriterWSearchWindows Search
NPS VSS WriterEventSystemCOM+ Event System
NTDSNTDSActive Directory Domain Services
OSearch VSS WriterOSearchOffice SharePoint Server Search
OSearch14 VSS WriterOSearch14SharePoint Server Search 14
OSearch15 VSS WriterOSearch15SharePoint Server Search 15
Registry WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
Shadow Copy Optimization WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
SharePoint Services WriterSPWriterWindows SharePoint Services VSS Writer
SMS WriterSMS_SITE_VSS_WRITERSMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER
SPSearch VSS WriterSPSearchWindows SharePoint Services Search
SPSearch4 VSS WriterSPSearch4SharePoint Foundation Search V4
SqlServerWriterSQLWriterSQL Server VSS Writer
System WriterCryptSvcCryptographic Services
TermServLicensingTermServLicensingRemote Desktop Licensing
WDS VSS WriterWDSServerWindows Deployment Services Server
WIDWriterWIDWriterWindows Internal Database VSS Writer
WINS Jet WriterWINSWindows Internet Name Service (WINS)
WMI WriterWinmgmtWindows Management Instrumentation