Important: Windows KB5083769 update may cause backups to get stuck

[al3x]

I couldn’t replicate that problem so far, file backups work for me on multiple PCs. Would also be very interested in how to replicate those VSS problems.

All tests successful with the PC in the state where "VSSadmin list writers" does not complete. This includes System Backup, Partition Backup, and File Backup. Tests were done with Core Isolation on and off.

Kudos to the dev team for providing this fix. It would be interesting to know what was changed and why this small number of PC's were affected.

Nice! That sounds very promising. We might be on a good way to a new fixed official version now

[Bespoken]

I couldn’t replicate that problem so far, file backups work for me on multiple PCs. Would also be very interested in how to replicate those VSS problems.

The VSS  problem is related to specific PC's. Either your PC has the problem or it does not. If you do not have it then you cannot simulate or replicate it. The symptom can be detected by running "vssadmin list writers", from an elevated command prompt, about 10 minutes after the PC has been booted. If the process does not complete then you have an affected PC.

But now that HBS has a fix it is a non-issue. That is unless you are using another backup program that is negatively affected. In that case dump that program and switch completely to HBS

[admin]

Has everyone seen this post about fixing vss issues:

Because this is my first post and am not permitted to post an URL. So let me give a google search for it.  Use these terms:    elevenforum.com macrium reflect vss timeout error

Now look for the 9th post in the "Macrium reflect 8 -VSS timeout" link.  I will post the copied text from that link:

The problem seems be resolved after running the script below. It was developed after some detective work with MS Copilot. The analysis of the problem is:

Running the command "vssadmin list writers" should produce a list of about 7 writers, but the process hangs and does not produce anything. This indicates that the COM+ catalog was in a partially corrupted state after the install of KB5083769. Two of my PC's experienced this problem, but not on a third one. Re-registering the servers and rebooting temporarily resolved the issue allowing the vssadmin to run normally, but then running Macrium Reflect 8 triggering the broken COM registrations.

The corruption was subtle enough that Windows didn’t auto‑repair it. A rebuild forced Windows to regenerate the modern COM+ catalog from CBS.

This is the fix script that was run from an elevated command prompt:

cd C:\windows\system32

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannow

regsvr32 /s vss_ps.dll
regsvr32 /s eventcls.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s swprv.dll
regsvr32 /s vssui.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml6.dll

net stop vss
net stop swprv
net stop eventsystem
net stop COMSysApp

net start COMSysApp
net start eventsystem
net start swprv
net start vss

So far it seems to be working as successive runs of MR8 are fine.

Has anyone tested @Frank1940's script? Does it always work? Thanks.

[admin]

The fix in 260508 is only a temporary solution and should only be used on computers experiencing VSS issues. Since there is no way to determine which computers are affected by this VSS problem, it will not be released as an official version. Ultimately, we will have to wait for Microsoft to fix the VSS issue.

[al3x]

Has anyone tested @Frank1940's script? Does it always work? Thanks.

The post in the ElevenForum got updated with this information:

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NOTE: The above is only a temporary fix for a small number of PC's that are affected. The problem will return, maybe within 10 minutes.

So apparently this is only temporary and problems seem to return.

[admin]

Has anyone tested @Frank1940's script? Does it always work? Thanks.

The post in the ElevenForum got updated with this information:

NOTE: The above is only a temporary fix for a small number of PC's that are affected. The problem will return, maybe within 10 minutes.

So apparently this is only temporary and problems seem to return.

Thank you for pointing it out. Is Microsoft really not going to fix this problem? There isn't even a reasonable explanation, this is really terrible.

[Bespoken]

Thank you for pointing it out. Is Microsoft really not going to fix this problem? There isn't even a reasonable explanation, this is really terrible.

Getting information from MS is not the easiest, but I have some questions for you. What has HBS done in the temporary version, e.g., has it just bypassed the use of VSS, and is that why it is not recommended/released for everyone? To be clear, I am ok with running this temporary version, but hope for a MS fix soon.

[admin]

Thank you for pointing it out. Is Microsoft really not going to fix this problem? There isn't even a reasonable explanation, this is really terrible.

Getting information from MS is not the easiest, but I have some questions for you. What has HBS done in the temporary version, e.g., has it just bypassed the use of VSS, and is that why it is not recommended/released for everyone? To be clear, I am ok with running this temporary version, but hope for a MS fix soon.

All user-provided logs indicate that the program hangs while collecting or releasing VSS Writers. Microsoft allows creating VSS snapshots without relying on Writers, so the temporary version adopted this approach. However, it should be noted that such snapshots do not notify applications (primarily databases) to commit pending transactions. If an application has cached data that has not yet been written to disk, that portion of data may be lost. This is also why we do not recommend using the temporary version on computers that are not experiencing any issues.