Backup Hangs At The "Initializing VSS Technology" Step

Scenario

You start a backup job in Paragon Hard Disk Manager, and it doesn't progress past the "Initializing VSS..." step.

Explanation and root cause

The interface of Paragon Hard Disk Manager doesn't specify a separate step when a VSS snaphot is created, meaning its creation takes place during the "Initializing VSS..." phase. Normally, it takes anywhere from a couple seconds to a few minutes (the process took much longer with earlier versions of Paragon Hard Disk Manager running on the Windows Server OS family).

The process is handled by Windows itself, and if an error occurs during it, a VSS requister will be waiting indefinitely for a message that has failed to arrive until the process is terminated.

Solution

First, make sure you are using Paragon Hard Disk Manager versions 17.32 and later.

Windows events check:

Go to Start → Run (or press the Win+R combo) → eventvwr.msc. On the left panel, navigate to Windows Logs → expand the section → Application and check for error messages related to VSS service. Search for a solution in Microsoft Support articles, for example this article

Also it would be useful to check the VSS services status.

1. Click Start and type Services and hit Enter.

2. Make sure these services are set accordingly (Right click the Services and click Properties):

• Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) – “Manual”

• Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider (SWPRV) – “Manual”

• Remote Procedure Call (RPCSS) – “Automatic”

• COM+ Event System (eventsystem) – “Manual” & “Automatic”

• System Event Notification Service (sens) – “Automatic”

• Windows Backup – “Manual”

3. Restart computer and check if the problem still exists.

If the issue persists, please collect the log files according to this guide and Contact Support attaching the logs archive.