VSS writers are application-specific components for Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service, which ensure the consistency of application data when a shadow copy is created. Since we have often come across VSS writers in a failed state, we have put together a list of VSS writers and the services that need to be restarted to reset each of them below:
| VSS Writer | Service Name | Service Display Name |
| ASR Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| BITS Writer | BITS | Background Intelligent Transfer Service |
| COM+ REGDB Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| DFS Replication service writer | DFSR | DFS Replication |
| DHCP Jet Writer | DHCPServer | DHCP Server |
| FRS Writer | NtFrs | File Replication |
| FSRM writer | srmsvc | File Server Resource Manager |
| IIS Config Writer | AppHostSvc | Application Host Helper Service |
| IIS Metabase Writer | IISADMIN | IIS Admin Service |
| Microsoft Exchange Replica Writer | MSExchangeRepl | Microsoft Exchange Replication Service |
| Microsoft Exchange Writer | MSExchangeIS | Microsoft Exchange Information Store |
| Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer | vmms | Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management |
| MSMQ Writer (MSMQ) | MSMQ | Message Queuing |
| MSSearch Service Writer | WSearch | Windows Search |
| NTDS | NTDS | Active Directory Domain Services |
| OSearch VSS Writer | OSearch | Office SharePoint Server Search |
| OSearch14 VSS Writer | OSearch14 | SharePoint Server Search 14 |
| Registry Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| Shadow Copy Optimization Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| SPSearch VSS Writer | SPSearch | Windows SharePoint Services Search |
| SPSearch4 VSS Writer | SPSearch4 | SharePoint Foundation Search V4 |
| SqlServerWriter | SQLWriter | SQL Server VSS Writer |
| Sync Share Service Writer | FileSyncSvc | Storage Sync Agent |
| System Writer | CryptSvc | Cryptographic Services |
| TermServLicensing | TermServLicensing | Remote Desktop Licensing |
| WIDW Writer | WIDWriter | Windows Internal Database |
| WINS Jet Writer | WINS | Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) |
| WMI Writer | Winmgmt | Windows Management Instrumentation |
Credits to Ansgar Wiechers at http://www.planetcobalt.net/sdb/vss_writers.shtml
You can use the following command in command prompt to list the VSS writers and check their current status:
vssadmin list writers
Note: This list is not comprehensive. It merely contains those writers we have already had to troubleshoot with our customers and from contributors.