Event ID 4001 — VSS Storage Space Availability

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) requires sufficient storage space to create and maintain shadow copies.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 4001
Source: VSS
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: VSS_ERROR_NO_DIFF_AREAS_CANDIDATES
Message: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Cannot find diff areas for creating shadow copies. Please add at least one NTFS drive to the system with enough free space. The free space needed is at least 300 Mb for each volume to be shadow copied.

Resolve

Check the shadow copy storage area configuration

Possible resolutions include:

  • Check the shadow copy storage area association and configuration.
  • If necessary, move the shadow copy storage area (also called the "diff area") to a volume with more storage capacity.
  • Check the volume that contains the shadow copy storage area for errors or hardware issues.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

Check the shadow copy storage area association and configuration

To check the shadow copy storage area association and configuration:

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  2. Type vssadmin list shadowstorage, and then press Enter.

  3. Use vssadmin commands as needed to change the shadow copy storage area association and configuration. If necessary, move the volume shadow copy storage area to a different, dedicated volume. For more information, see the "Move the volume shadow copy storage area to a volume with more storage capacity" section.

    Note: The volume shadow copy storage area must be on an NTFS file system volume. To successfully create a shadow copy, at least one volume is required with at least 300 MB of free space. Do not store the volume shadow copy storage area on a storage device that can be easily removed from the computer. Do not store the volume shadow copy storage area on a storage device that may not be available to Windows until late in the system startup sequence. For example, a logical unit number (LUN) created on an Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage subsystem might not appear until a software initiator has started.

For more information about best practices related to the volume shadow copy storage area, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104777.

For more information about the vssadmin command, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=103401.

Move the volume shadow copy storage area to a volume with more storage capacity

To move the volume shadow copy storage area to a different volume:

Caution: When you change the location of the shadow copy storage area, all previous shadow copies are deleted.

  1. Click Start, and then click Computer.

  2. Right-click any of the volumes listed, and then click Configure Shadow Copies.

  3. Click the volume that is currently used for the volume shadow copy storage area, and then click Settings.

    Note: If shadow copies of the volume are enabled, you must first disable them by clicking the volume, and then clicking Disable.

  4. Set the volume shadow copy area volume to a volume with more storage capacity by selecting the volume from the drop-down list under Storage area, and then click OK.

  5. Make sure that the volume is still selected, and click Enable. If you are asked to confirm that you want to enable shadow copies, click Yes.

  6. Click OK to exit.

Check the volume that contains the shadow copy storage area for errors or hardware issues

To check the volume that contains the shadow copy storage area for errors or hardware issues:

  1. Click Start, click Run, type diskmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
  2. In Disk Management, click View, click Top, and then select Disk List.
  3. In Disk Management, click View, click Bottom, and then select Volume List.
  4. Make sure that Disk Management displays an Online status for fixed disks and a Healthy status for volumes. For disk status descriptions, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=103403. For volume status descriptions, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=103404.

Verify

To verify that the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) has enough storage space to create and maintain shadow copies:

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window by clicking Start, pointing to All Programs, clicking Accessories, right-clicking Command Prompt, and then clicking Run as administrator.
  2. Type vssadmin list shadowstorage at the command prompt. The Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space should be at least 300 MB.
  3. Use vssadmin commands as needed to change the shadow copy storage area association and configuration.

For more information about the vssadmin command, including usage examples, see https://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/df7eb505-43c6-42af-ab42-3095f96ffc271033.mspx.

VSS Storage Space Availability

File Services