Solved: Server 2019 Shadow Copies Missing

┃Quick navigations:

• What is shadow copy?
• Error: VSS shadow copies suddenly disappeared
• Method 1. Troubleshoot By fixing insufficient storage space
• Method 2. Activating volume shadow copy in Windows Server 2019/2016
• Bonus tip: backup files via the best third-party software

What is shadow copy?

Windows Server 2019 provides a plethora of security options, but when it comes to safeguarding data, backup and restore procedures take precedence due to their critical nature. A failure in ensuring data availability can result in severe repercussions for both the organization and its users, as well as the administrators. To address this concern, the system leverages the power of the Volume Snapshot System, also known as the Instant Volume System, which was first introduced in Windows Server 2003.

This capability significantly enhances system security by ensuring the safe restoration of data, enabling the creation of backups to revert to previous points or restore the entire system. However, many users reported errors when they are using, a case in point is Server 2019 shadow copies missing. If you have met the same problems, please follow to read the articles.

Error: VSS shadow copies suddenly disappeared

As we mentioned in the first section, Server 2019 shadow copies missing cannot be ignored in order to safeguard your data integrity and security. Check out if you have met similar problems as the following user case taken from Microsoft community.

A lot of reasons may account for the shadow copies missing. Generally speaking, we divide the reasons into several  points. To resolve your problem, it is necessary to find out the exact one.

◗No activated shadow copy service: shadow copies will be not available when the service stopped.
◗Insufficient disk space: shadow copies require a certain amount of disk space to store snapshot copies. If there is insufficient disk space, the system may not be able to create or maintain a shadow copy, resulting in a lost shadow copy.
◗Misconfiguration: incorrect configuration settings may cause shadow copies to become unavailable. This could include incorrect scheduled task settings, volumes with no shadow copies enabled, incorrect shadow copy storage space settings, etc.
◗Other problems: disk failure or corruption, security settings or anti-virus software interference or operating system or file system errors.

How to fix Server 2019 shadow copies missing

Having a general overview of the underlying causes, the most urgent thing is to perform Server 2019 enable shadow copies.

Method 1. Troubleshoot By fixing insufficient storage space

To resolve the insufficient storage space issue on Windows Server, you can proceed as follows:

Step 1. Click on Start, and then click This PC.

Step 2. In the Devices and drives section, right-click on a required drive.

Step 3. In the context menu, select the Configure Shadow Copies... item.

Step 4. In the Shadow Copies Properties box, view the list of volumes. If the Used column is blank, it means no storage space is currently allocated for shadow copies.

Step 5. To allocate the storage space for shadow copies, select the target volume for shadow copies, then click Settings.

Step 6. In the Storage area box, select the target volume for shadow copies, then, specify the shadow copy size limit or select the No limit option if you want to keep the storage space for shadow copies unlimited.

Step 7. Once you are finished, click OK, then run your backup plan again to make sure the error would not occur again.

Method 2. Activating volume shadow copy in Windows Server 2019/2016

Step 1. Open Disk Management by pressing Win +X key.

Step 2. Then select the partition where the Server is installed. Then, right-click on it and enter Properties.

Step 3. Now navigate to Shadow Copies and then click on Enable.

Step 4. When the notification window pops up, click Yes to confirm.

Step 5. After confirmation, you can see how a restore point has been created in the selected unit. Please click on Settings.

Step 6. Then within the table, you can get to know the following parameters:

To know which is the volume where the backup will be made.
Setting a maximum copy size.
Set a custom schedule on which to back up.

Click on the Schedule button, it is possible to define the following:

Define the exact date and time of each backup.
Define the programming frequency.
Define how often the copy will be made.
Activate which days the copy will be made.

Once Windows Server 2019 enable shadow copies, users can use shadow copies to revert files to previous versions. There is how you can do it:

Step 1. Right-click on the target file and choose the Properties tab.

Step 2. When the properties sheet is displayed, locate at Previous Version tab, and choose the file version you want to back to. And then click Restore to confirm.

Bonus tip: backup files via the best third-party software

AOMEI Backupper Server is a full-featured backup and restore software. It boasts the inclusion of two robust technologies: Microsoft VSS and AOMEI Backup Service. This dual integration ensures that even in the event of any issues with the Volume Shadows Copy Service, you can rely on AOMEI Backupper to create VSS backups successfully.

More shining points are below:

√ Outstanding backup method: you can create a full copy of your backup, also you can only backup the changed parts as you like via incremental and differential backup.
√ Resourceful backup options: you can choose to backup your important files, also, you can select disks, partitions and so on when you are in need.
√ Other powerful functions: it serves as the best software to help WinPE disk clone when your PC cannot boot and also can restore and sync your file in a good manner.

How to create VSS backup with AOMEI Backupper

Here I’ll show you how to create a system backup using VSS backup with AOMEI Backupper. Before you start, please download AOMEI Backupper and launch it.

Step 1. Click the button on the right corner, and locate the Settings tab.

Step 2. Confirm and choose Use Microsoft VSS, absolutely you can also choose to Use AOMEI Backup Service.

Step 3. Click System Backup under the Backup tab.

Step 4. Then it will automatically choose the source, including the partitions. Then you need to decide to choose a destination among local path/ NAS or Add share and external hard drive.

Step 5. At the bottom, click on Schedule Backup, you can enable schedule backup to automatically backup your files in daily/ weekly/monthly/ event-trigger and USB plug-in mode.

Step 6. Don't forget to click Start Backup to proceed.

Summary

Sincerely hoping this article can help you troubleshoot Server 2019 shadow copies missing. We also offer a more comprehensive solution to ensure the backup process, that is AOMEI Backupper. It’s a full-featured backup and restore software that can customize users needs with its professional and mature solutions. Apart from that, you can utilize it when you need to install domain controller Windows Server 2012.