Discussion on:

Run vssadmin to inspect a Volume Shadow Copy Service configuration

I looked at the cmd line commands for vssadmin and found that vssadmin create shadow is not available to me. Any ideas how to change my options?

OK, ran the vssadmin....so what can i do with all theses writers? How do you configure a proper backup and choose only what is necessary vs everything listed in the "list writers"

Each component that needs to go can be removed if you are not using it any more. So, for example, product x's backup tool that you don't use any more may need to be removed. Then you can remove it if it isn't in use, especially if you put in another tool.

How can you determine the VSS writers that "should" show up running the "vssadmin list writers" command? I know that this command is used to list the writers, but when troubleshooting a system that I am unfamiliar with, how would I know which ones should show up in the list.