Using the DISKSHADOW command to manually test Microsoft VSS operations – Hornetsecurity KnowledgeBase

This article describes the steps needed to manually take a Volume Shadow Copy on your Hyper-V Host using the Microsoft Diskshadow command from Windows command prompt.

Firstly, launch Command Prompt as Administrator (with elevated privileges), then run the following commands:

diskshadow
set verbose on
set context volatile (Deletes the shadow copy on exit or reset)
add volume c: (always include this)
add volume XXXX (replace with the volume containing your VM's VHDXs)

Note: Repeat to add each volume that contains files associated with your VMs

begin backup
create

After entering the “create” command the shadow will be created. If it fails it will provide information regarding why it failed.

If it succeeds you can then end the test with the command:

end backup
exit

References:

Diskshadow command information on Technet: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772172.aspx

You may log the output of this command by using /l

For example: diskshadow /l C:\diskshadow.log

References:

Related articles