Someone at a V.P. Level or Higher at Symantec? Or does someone work for a Corp. that Symantec wants into? Or finally does anyone know any one in Symantec Development that can generate a fix without permission, but can get forgiven!

My answer was to just quit using Ghost 14 as I didn't need both a belt & suspenders.

Bruce Hobson

Thanks Matt....I knew you were still around.  I know it has been reproduced.  I did get you other response and thanks for that.  I think frustration with trying to pinpoint where it needs to be fixed....can we all just work together to get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time....AHHHHH... I just want it all to eventually work right and keep both products working in tandem.

Thanks...

-Fred

Screch1,

Getting them to aknowledge the problem (as opposed to blaming you for it) is a miracle on its own but getting a fix.., good luck with that.

A simple solution is to uninstall Ghost 14 and everything will work much better.

Although my NIS 2009 just completely dissapointed me by letting a Trojan on my PC that it attempts to remove on every scan. :(

Simply uninstalling Ghost 14 may not be enough to get you WHS backups working again. You may also have to remove the following residue left over from Ghost 14 from your system:

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list providers

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
© Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Symantec Software VSS Provider'
Provider type: Software
Provider Id: {262b716e-bb23-41b5-aaef-e2c15e767167}
Version: 1.0

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Provider type: System
Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Version: 1.0.0.7

So, I simply went into regedit, searched for its name, and removed the related provider entries.

Another 'vssadmin list providers' confirmed that the Symantec provider entry was indeed gone:

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list providers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
© Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Provider type: System
Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Version: 1.0.0.7

After that, my Windows Home Server backups worked like a charm again.

Bruce Hobson

The problem seems to me to be a little confusion on WHS part. It wants to use vss and try's to use the first occurrence, which is some one else's vss.

C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list providers

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
© Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Symantec Software VSS Provider'
Provider type: Software
Provider Id: {262b716e-bb23-41b5-aaef-e2c15e767167}
Version: 1.0

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Provider type: System
Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Version: 1.0.0.7

So, you can use the first solution I gave earlier, or you can use the following. Which is another way to change the order of providers and meet WHS's expectations:

Cd windows\system32
Net stop vss
Net stop swprv
regsvr32 ole32.dll
regsvr32 vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /i swprv.dll ------- I was able to register it, before I was getting error 0x8000ffff
regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 es.dll
regsvr32 stdprov.dll
regsvr32 vssui.dll -------- I had XP

regsvr32 msxml.dll -------- the last 3 depend on what XML versions you have installed.
regsvr32 msxml3.dll -------- if you get error here, re-install corresponding XML version
regsvr32 msxml4.dll

net start vss
net start swprvc

It seems to me the root cause is a WHS problem with it's own expectations. Not a Symantec problem in any way.... 

Bruce Hobson

It might be handy to have someone who's better at this stuff then me to create a script to fix this problem for all versions of windows...

Where people can just use the script and have relief.

It also might be a good idea for Symantec to change how thier installer installs any VSS services, just to keep things quiet on the home front...

Bruce Hobson

How would your solution after Norton Ghost and other Norton Products.  Does it matter? 

-Fred

Hello Matt,

Do we have a resolution on this yet or some effective workaround to get this to work?  Has there been a determination of responsibility for the problem?  SYsmantec or Microsoft?  Thanks for the response in advance.

-Fred

Fred,

I'm using Norton 360 V3 while also using WHS to do my backups. And it all works just fine on Vista 64-bit.

My problem was two contending backups solutions in the same system.

Norton Ghost installs its own VSS server if you will. And is its own client as well. So, with Norton Ghost installed and WHS installed you have two VSS servers in the same system.

And thru testing you can see that WHS doesn't like a choice and after removing the Ghost VSS WHS works fine.

I believe that both take different arguments and that's why the errors.

Computer problems are almost always in the expectations and assumptions that apps have or do not have. I do not believe WHS expected to have a choice of VSS Servers and always tries to use the first occurrence. 

When you said "after" you really meant "affect or affected", correct? The answer is I don't really know for sure. Because I don't have any of the other products to test with.

Also, keep in mind I had already uninstalled Ghost 14. That's why I called the Norton VSS server residue. Because it was not uninstalled when I uninstalled Ghost 14. And in my mind should have been!

By the way the above answers/solutions came from Internet searches. They are answers from others on Microsoft Forums not from me.

Which is the main reason I asked for someone else that could create a script.

I'm Retied and do not work for anybody any more. I say that so that you will know I have no crosses to bare. I have been trying to get my own stuff working is all.

At the same time, I cannot expect others to fix all of my problems for me. Problems which I caused all by myself by having two contending backup solutions in the same system. The very same root cause which Matt has been kind enough not to point out or shove into our faces. Thank you Matt!

Belt & Suspenders Fred... Belt & Suspenders. Two contending backup solutions.

Later,  

Bruce Hobson 

I have one question....Why did it stop working with Norton 360 v3 and it worked fine with Ghost 14 and N360 v2?  So at one point it did work with no problems??? Odd??

I understand your point about 2 contending backup solutions.  I use Ghost for imaging on additional drives not the ones backed up by WHS.  It could be fixed by a script and I am sure it is just taking the time for someone to take the initiative to write the fix.

Just a thought.

-Fred