HRESULT 0x80042318 (VSS_E_WRITER_INFRASTRUCTURE): meaning

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Operating System:

Description:

VSS cannot contact its writers. Check VSS services and writer registration.

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VSS_E_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_SNAPSHOTS_REACHED	VSS_E_WRITER_NOT_RESPONDING

VSS_E_WRITER_INFRASTRUCTURE

VSS_E_WRITER_INFRASTRUCTURE means that VSS detected a problem while contacting writers. It is an infrastructure-level failure rather than a report that one specific writer rejected the backup.

How to investigate for VSS_E_WRITER_INFRASTRUCTURE

Verify that the VSS service and the Windows Event System service are running.
Use vssadmin list writers and inspect Application and System event logs for writer-registration or COM-event failures.
Address the first infrastructure error in the event timeline before retrying the backup job.

Microsoft: VSS requester and writer coordination

Diagnostic interpretation

This result has the HRESULT value 0x80042318. AllStat records the condition as “An error was detected in the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). The problem occurred while trying to contact VSS writers. Verify that the Event System service and the VSS service are running and check for associated errors in the event logs.”.

Evidence to capture

Capture any IErrorInfo text, activity identifier, event-log entry, and subsystem trace that mentions this result or the vss / writer / infrastructure operation.
Reproduce this result with the smallest valid input and note whether the result changes with identity, architecture, service state, or target object.

Retry and recovery

Retry this result only when the owning API documents a transient state or after the condition described as “An error was detected in the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). ” has changed.

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