Windows Backup: "System Writer is not found in the backup"

[Mercutio]

Has anyone run in to this before? I have a relatively new Server 2008r2 system, perhaps six weeks old (running as a virtual machine on an ESX 5.5 host, if that matters). Backups worked fine until Saturday night but since then, when I try to fire off a backup, I get this error message: "System Writer is not found in the backup" approximately 90 seconds after a scheduled backup is started.

The system is a pretty vanilla machine. It's just running IIS and MSSQL with a ~1GB database and there weren't any observable changes to the system since the last time it was updated, which was a couple weeks ago.

I've done an SFC /scannow and I've been through all the steps listed here and here.

I've definitely re-registered the Shadow Copy Service:

cd /d %windir%\system32
net stop vss
net stop swprv
regsvr32 /s ole32.dll
regsvr32 /s oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 /s vss_ps.dll
vssvc /register
regsvr32 /s /i swprv.dll
regsvr32 /s /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s stdprov.dll
regsvr32 /s vssui.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml4.dll
vssvc /register
net start swprv
net start vss

... which does complete successfully.

As far as I can tell, any local, third-party backup tool I install would still use the VSS system writer as part of its operation. BackupExec, Macrium and Acronis products all do, at any rate. The more time I spend messing with this, the bigger a deal it appears to be. Also, server admins are still complaining that it's an issue with Server 2012 and 2012r2, so apparently it's a problem that's been around for a while.

As far as I can tell my virtual hardware is fine and healthy, so this is a big, stupid mystery at this point.

 

[ddrueding]

It would be interesting to see if one of those third-party tools worked or no (whether VSS was actually working correctly or not).

 

[Mercutio]

TrueImage Server has been tried and did in fact puke.

 

[Mercutio]

I decided that the Windows Backup was sending me a coded message that I don't get nearly enough practice doing Windows Server restores.

 

[Howell]

 

[Mercutio]

That's kind of a big deal. It's crucial for backups. It's crucial for THIRD PARTY backup software. If it's not working and nothing short of dropping back to my last good system image is all I can do, I don't know how that's even remotely cool. I have no idea what caused it and no idea if it will start happening again.

 

[Bozo]

Can you uninstall windows backup from the features menu and then re-install?

 

[Mercutio]

I actually did try that, but the System Writer isn't technically part of the Backup Features and that didn't seem to help. I wound up making a database backup and then restoring Windows from the last good system image I had. I'm not going to run a production system with no working backup.