Cannot backup to Macrium Reflect Free

dalchina · 20 Jan 2017

Sorry, made an assumption - I think the doct refers to a product which is not relevant- I've not time to check further. Anyway, try this:

Solution

To fix this problem take the following steps:

Remove the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Providers\{24602736-bed9-4619-91b0-243447c6409c}.
Restart Windows.

- then merge the file.

Try it, if it doesn't work, need to think again.

Did you say you'd tried this:

VSSFix
If you have not been able to fix your issue using one of the articles linked above please download one of the below programs to fix your problem:
VSSfix 32bit - download
VSSfix 64bit - download

bertie11 · 21 Jan 2017

I have discovered that instead of this, which I should have it seems with the values clearly shown:

I only get the values without the type and data visible. However, if I double-click on each one the patch data is actually shown:

Default: Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0 (highlighted in blue, as they all are, in boxes headed 'Edit String')
Type: 1
Version: 1.0.0.7
Versionid: {00000001-0000-0000-0007-000000000001}

So I'm wondering why are they 'hidden'? How do I get them to show as per the example? Apologies for not getting Paint to show what I mean clearly! And thanks for the support here, it's good to have somebody 'watching' over me!

Perhaps the problem is that being hidden they aren't doing anything?

I have tried VSSFix several times! And Macrium has it's own version which doesn't fix it either.

dalchina · 21 Jan 2017

Ok, one more idea:
Download install and run Tweaking.com's free cautious repair tool. (Easy to find)
Observing the cautious stages, select only the VSS service repair.
Restart, then see if anything's changed.

You can also search this forum for e.g.
repair VSS
and see if anything else that looks helpful.

Otherwise I think the way forward is to do an in-place upgrade repair install.

That seems to be the conclusion of the very long thread here I posted above - you're welcome to work through that and see if anything else occurs. With some problems you can spend a very long time trying to find an appropriate specific fix, and if an in-place upgrade repair install fixes it that can end up saving time.

Here's my write-up on it:
Precede it with this in case sthg has happened to your file system:

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

An In-place upgrade repair install will fix many things, but not those where the settings are not changed by the procedure.

For this you need an installation medium with the same base build as you have installed, and x64 if you have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

Recommendation:
Before you perform the following major repair procedure, do create a disk image (see below).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Tutorials
- this includes a link from which you can obtain a Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a Win 10 bootable medium.

I would recommend creating the bootable medium, as this can be used
- for any future in-place upgrade repair install
- to boot from and use its recovery options should Windows become unbootable.
- to clean install Windows

This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- no personal data should be affected
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons
- you may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection
- you will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install
- Windows.old will be created
- system restore will be turned off- you should turn it on again and I recommend you manually schedule a daily restore point.
- you will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that)
- inactive title bar colouring (if used) will be reset to default
- if Qttabbar is installed, you need to re-enable it in explorer (Options, check Qttabbar)
This is one of the better features of Win10: as each major build comes out, that's your updated reference build, and as updates are mostly cumulative, there will be few to do.

Please consider using disk imaging regularly. It's a brilliant way to
- preserve your system (and your sanity)
- back up your data
- restore your system to a previously working state in a relatively short time

Recommended: Macrium Reflect (free/commercial) + boot disk/device + large enough external storage medium.

DavidY · 21 Jan 2017

dalchina said:

There is an ENORMOUSLY long and detailed thread here (SOLVED)
Macrium Reflect Backup Failures
- I think the conclusion in that thread was to fix VSS, do an in-place upgrade repair install.

I remember that thread!

I think you are correct on the conclusion.

One thing I would add is that I seem to remember on the thread the OP used their Macrium Recovery drive/disk to boot the computer and create a new backup image offline, which seemed to work.

If this offline backup creation works here (and I guess there's no guarantee) I'd suggest doing this before the Repair Install, as it gives a way back if that Repair install fails (however unlikely).

dalchina · 21 Jan 2017

Hi, thanks, good advice.

Railtech · 21 Jan 2017

I bet your system disk is to full which means that there is not enough free space for VSS to do its work. You could delete some older restore points and see if that helps. Better consider upgrading to a larger disk is space is low.

DavidY · 21 Jan 2017

Railtech said:

I bet your system disk is to full which means that there is not enough free space for VSS to do its work. You could delete some older restore points and see if that helps. Better consider upgrading to a larger disk is space is low.

I thought of that too.
However when I looked back at my Macrium log from when I had that exact disk space problem last month, the error message was different to the one in the OP's first post. In my case I had an error message which mentioned 'Insufficient Storage'. So my current guess is it's a different problem.

That said, it would be worth checking the disk space on the drive - note that it's the drive being backed up FROM which is the potential issue here, not the drive which will hold the backup.

Railtech · 21 Jan 2017

Shadow copies take place on the volume on which the backup is being taken. In other words the disk being backed up.

bertie11 · 21 Jan 2017

Railtech, I still have 88GB spare space on my C: drive, should be enough.

Dalchina, I ran Tweaking.com repair twice and sad to say the faults still exist, namely Macrium crashed within a few seconds of starting an image backup. And the registry anomaly still exists, still no visible values under Providers. System Restore still crashes when I try to open and configure it. So for my next trick, I mean step I will swot up on the in-place repair upgrade install.

I had read the long thread mentioned but the only conclusion I could see was that it was the upgrade install wot fixed it. I had been hoping to have been able to avoid doing that but in the absence of other options I expect that is what I will do.
I have attached my chkdsk results, looks OK to me.

dalchina · 21 Jan 2017

An in-place upgrade is pretty reliable- just make sure you do the image backup beforehand using a Macrium boot disk as a precaution. And having the Win10 boot medium to hand can be useful- so that's what I prefer to use (DVD-RW).