VSS problem

Volume Shadow copy Service ( VSS ) is a Windows component that allows creating a snapshot of a volume in order to copy it in a consistent manner. For more details, see Volume Shadow Copy Service Overview.

Zinstall uses VSS on the source computer in order to create a consistent copy of all its disks. In case of a VSS problem, Zinstall can still perform the migration, but this may cause issues in later stages of the migration, if filesystem and/or registry activity happens on the source computer during the migration.

If Zinstall shows a warning about VSS, either close all applications on the source computer in order to lower the chances of problems later on, or resolve the VSS problem before proceeding with the migration process according to the following guide.

How to solve VSS problems?

Windows XP

1. On your source ( old ) computer, download the vshadow utility from here.

2. Open a command promprt and for each volume on your source computer, run "vshadow x:" where "x" is the volume drive letter. For example: "vshadow c:", "vshadow d:", etc.
3. This should result in a lot of text being printed out.
4. If the VSS is working fine, the output should end with the line "Snapshot creation done."
5. If a VSS problem is still present, the output will end with a detailed problem description and error code.
6. You can use this problem description and error code to either contact Microsoft's support or try and find a solution on the internet.
7. Once you manage to get VSS working, run the migration again.

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