VSS Error, Event Id 12289, Backup Failed

Hello IT-Fans,

I am going crazy with this kind of error. I cannot backup my machine because i get always the following error:
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Event Type: Error
Event Source: VSS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 12289
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error
WaitForMultipleObjects(1,00759990,1,120000) == 0x00000102. hr = 0x8000ffff.
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This is a Windows Server 2003 - I have installed ServicePack2 because i believed that this fix my problem. What can i do... the Service is running... any suggestions?

Having this same issue at the moment. Microsoft has been on my clients box. Will give you the fix when they tell me what is wrong. Meantime have a few questions:

Did you do a SQL install recently or an install that you had an issue with?

Check the location of the dlls:
ole32
oleaut32
vss_ps
swprv
EVENTCLS
es
stdprov
vssui
msxml
msml3
msxml4

These dll's need to be in the system32 directory and NOT the \LogOnUsername\directory in the registry. Open regedt32 and do a search for each of the above mentioned files. If all clear write back tomorrow and will give the solution for you.

Regards
John

To fix the issue first we have to find what is causing the error. You can get that information in Event Viewer. It can give you the description of error and process to fix the same. You have to first verify that VSS Service is turned or not. You will require admin rights to perform the steps. Click on Start > Run and in that type eventvwr.msc and hit enter. You can see a window in which you have to go in Windows Log > Application. Filter the result by VSS. You can do that through Action pane. You can find the error log on the basis of date or time when it appeared. This will give you more details.

Just to verify once check whether VSS is enabled or not. For that you can go in Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. In that you have to find Shadow Copy first. Double click on the same and set the startup to Manual. Click on OK and then try backup once again. If this does not work then there are more things you can try. Like running checkdisk to locate hard drive errors. Run chkdsk /f C: command in cmd and wait back for the report. Try to update the OS with SP1. I got multiple issue at the time backup but after installing SP1 update things are stable.