I have a problem with the backup of our Windows 2008 R2 with Hyper-V server. The server is recently installed, only with the purpose of being a dedicated host for our virtual servers. At the moment we have 2 virtual servers running: One is Windows 2008 Server Standard 32-bit the other is running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.
We would like to use the in-built Windows Server Backup from the physical computer to store our backups on external USB-drives.
However, a few minutes (4 to 8 minutes) after starting the backup, it fails. When I check the vss-writer status, I get the following message: Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer' Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de} Writer Instance Id: {b1a69537-6cba-4fcb-8874-d99aaf7f39ef} State: [5] Waiting for completion Last Error: Unexpected Error
I have tried Google'ing the error and it seems quite a lot of people experience this. One thing I have noticed is, if the virtual machines are shut down, the backups complete without errors.
If anyone could help me solve this problem, I would be forever grateful. I see 2 possible solutions - either I solve the problem, or I find a way to stop and start the virtual machines using a BAT file and Scheduled Tasks.
If you need further information, please don't hesitate to ask for it.
The backup is a "complete backup" including System State, virtual machines - everything.
I tried installing Symantec Backup Exec 2010 R3 on the Hyper-V host to see if that went better. Unfortunately, Backup Exec failed with the same error. I believe I have isolated the error to something related to the VSS writers on the host computer, but how to solve the issue, I just don't know.
I believe I have located the source of my VSS problems. One of the virtual servers that we are trying to backup actually used to run on the same physical server before we virtualized it (usign disk2vhd). Disk2vhd is a brilliant tool, but unfortunately it keeps the Disk Signature on the new VHD file. Now, the Disk Signature of our physical disk on the Hyper-V server matches the Disk Signature of the virtual disk on one of the virtual servers. When Windows Server Backup tries to use VSS writers and encounters two identical Disk Signatures, the operation ends in tears. Now, there is an easy way to provide a new Disk Signature to a VHD file: Shut down the VM, open Storage Manager on the physical server, mount the VHD file (it should come up as 'offline'), right click and select 'online' and Windows should in theory create a new Disk Signature.
HOWEVER, does anyone know what will happen when the virtual server is booted from the disk with the new signature? Will Windows even boot?
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