What does HRESULT 0x80042411 (VSS_E_CRITICAL_VOLUME_ON_INVALID_DISK) mean?

VSS_E_CRITICAL_VOLUME_ON_INVALID_DISK

A critical volume is hosted on an invalid ASR disk. The ASR writer has classified a selected critical volume as residing on a disk that cannot participate in Automated System Recovery backup.

The documented condition is: “A critical volume selected for backup exists on a disk which cannot be backed up by ASR.”

Where VSS_E_CRITICAL_VOLUME_ON_INVALID_DISK appears

This is a backup-side eligibility check while critical volumes are associated with their underlying disks. It prevents creation of recovery metadata that ASR could not later honor.

Likely causes

• The critical volume is hosted on unsupported shared, virtual, removable or otherwise ineligible storage.
• Storage virtualization hides the physical relationship needed by ASR.
• The critical-volume set includes a volume that should be protected through a different backup mechanism.
• A recent storage migration changed disk type without revalidating bare-metal backup support.

Evidence to capture before changing storage

• Map the reported critical volume through partitions and extents to the underlying disk.
• Capture disk bus, type, cluster role, virtual backing and online state.
• Record why the volume is critical, including boot files, system components or dependencies.
• Preserve ASR writer and VSS events that identify the rejected disk.

Diagnostic sequence

• Identify the exact unsupported property instead of treating “invalid” as media corruption.
• Compare the topology with known specific results such as cluster-shared or dynamic-VHD restrictions.
• Verify that the volume is not accidentally included because of stale boot configuration or mount points.
• Test backup eligibility again only after changing storage placement or critical-volume classification.

Recovery and retry

Relocate the critical data to ASR-supported storage, correct the system configuration, or protect that component with another supported disaster-recovery workflow. Generate a new backup after the topology changes.

What this HRESULT does not prove

This code does not prove the disk has bad sectors, an invalid partition table or an unreadable filesystem. “Invalid” is relative to the ASR contract.

Difference from nearby VSS results

VSS_E_ASRERROR_SHARED_CRIDISK and VSS_E_ASRERROR_DYNAMIC_VHD_NOT_SUPPORTED name two specific unsupported topologies. This HRESULT remains appropriate when the rejected disk is invalid for another ASR reason.

Practical example

A storage migration moves a boot dependency to a disk presented through an unsupported mechanism. Normal file I/O succeeds, but the ASR writer rejects the hosting disk while collecting critical-volume metadata.

Guidance for backup software and telemetry

Validation should report the concrete disk property alongside this HRESULT. Without that context, administrators may run filesystem repair on a healthy but unsupported device.

Official Microsoft references

• Microsoft: VSS Automated System Recovery for disaster recovery
• Microsoft: the VSS requester, writer and provider model
• Microsoft: VSS writers and their lifecycle
• Microsoft: basic and dynamic disks