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What's New in VSS in Windows Vista

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Windows Vista introduces the following changes to the Volume Shadow Copy Service.

Note that all changes for Windows Vista also apply to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

New VSS Interfaces

IVssBackupComponentsEx2

IVssComponentEx

IVssCreateWriterMetadataEx

IVssDifferentialSoftwareSnapshotMgmt2

IVssExamineWriterMetadataEx2

New VSS Classes

CVssWriterEx

New VSS Enumerations

VSS_ROLLFORWARD_TYPE

Existing VSS Enumeration Modifications

VSS_BACKUP_SCHEMA enumeration

Added values:

VSS_BS_AUTHORITATIVE_RESTORE

VSS_BS_INDEPENDENT_SYSTEM_STATE

VSS_BS_RESTORE_RENAME

VSS_BS_ROLLFORWARD_RESTORE

VSS_COMPONENT_FLAGS enumeration

Added values:

VSS_CF_NOT_SYSTEM_STATE

_VSS_VOLUME_SNAPSHOT_ATTRIBUTES enumeration

Added values:

VSS_VOLSNAP_ATTR_NO_AUTORECOVERY

VSS_VOLSNAP_ATTR_NOT_TRANSACTED

VSS Event Tracing and Logging

  • The VSS trace file can now be located on any local volume. On versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista, the VSS trace file could not be located on a volume that was in the shadow copy set.
  • Many event log entries have been reworded to make them clearer.
  • All VSS event log entries now contain context information.

VSS Error Reporting

  • Descriptions of all VSS error codes can now be retrieved by calling the FormatMessage function with the FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_HMODULE flag specified in the dwFlags parameter.
  • The VSS error code messages are contained in vsstrace.dll. A handle to this module must be specified in the lpSource parameter.

Excluding Files from Shadow Copies

Applications or services can use the FilesNotToSnapshot registry key to specify files to be deleted from newly created shadow copies. For more information, see Excluding Files from Shadow Copies.

Backup and Restore Application Compatibility

Developers of backup and restore applications need to be aware of certain new features in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For an application compatibility checklist, see Application Compatibility for Backup and Restore.