Windows VSS Writers and Corresponding Service Names

KB ID: 2041
Published: 2015-06-04
Last Modified: 2025-03-28
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Purpose

This article documents VSS Writers and their corresponding Windows services.

For more information, reference Microsoft's In-Box VSS Writers article.

Solution

VSS Writer NameService NameService Display Name
ASR WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
BITS WriterBITSBackground Intelligent Transfer Service
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 WriterMSExchangeISMicrosoft Exchange Information Store
Microsoft Hyper-V VSS WritervmmsHyper-V Virtual Machine Management
NTDSNTDSActive Directory Domain Services
OSearch VSS WriterOSearchOffice SharePoint Server Search
OSearch14 VSS WriterOSearch14SharePoint Server Search 14
Registry WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
Shadow Copy Optimization WriterVSSVolume Shadow Copy
SPSearch VSS WriterSPSearchWindows SharePoint Services Search
SPSearch4 VSS WriterSPSearch4SharePoint Foundation Search V4
SqlServerWriterSQLWriterSQL Server VSS Writer
System WriterCryptSvcCryptographic Services
TermServLicensingTermServLicensingRemote Desktop Licensing
WINS Jet WriterWINSWindows Internet Name Service (WINS)
WMI WriterWinmgmtWindows Management Instrumentation
Swipe to show more of the table

More Information

Restarting services will affect production environments. Please plan accordingly. 

Basic VSS Writer Troubleshooting

Launch an administrative command prompt and run 'vssadmin list writers' to determine which, if any, writers are in a failed state. Locate the writer in the list above, and restart the correlating service. Then rerun 'vssadmin list writers' to check if the writer is stable.

Restarting the services may not always resolve failed writers, and a reboot may be required.

If the writers continue to enter a failed state after stabilizing, further investigation will be required. Please include the System and Application event logs from the machine having issues when creating a case.

 

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