How to Fix: MSMQ Writer (MSMQ) failed

If you ran into this type of VSS error “MSMQ Writer”, the fix below might work for you:

Symptoms

The Event Viewer logs on the host and inside the virtual machine, at the time of backup, might show the following entries.

The VSS writer MSMQ Writer (MSMQ) failed with status 8 and writer specific failure code 0x800423F2.
Disk 1 has been surprise removed

VSS writers inside virtual machine '' failed to perform BackupComplete to its shadow copy (VSS snapshot) set: The writer's timeout expired between the Freeze and Thaw events. (0x800423F2). (Virtual machine ID )
Could not create backup checkpoint for virtual machine '': The writer's timeout expired between the Freeze and Thaw events. (0x800423F2). (Virtual machine ID )
Checkpoint operation for '' failed. (Virtual machine ID )
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Failed resolving account Administrator with status 1376. Check connection to domain controller and VssAccessControl registry key.
Error: NetLocalGroupGetMemebers(Administrator), 0x80070560, The specified local group does not exist.

Cause and Fix

After a long  investigation, it turned out to be a permission issue. The folder System32\MSMQ might have subfolders in it and those need to be checked for valid permission settings. The user account running the backup (usually local system or administrator) must have full control over all these folders. If access is restricted or limited you may run into the MSMQ Writer failures listed above. A big thank you to Adam Androulidakis of Computer Concepts, Inc for providing us detailed error reports and the solution!

Welcome to BackupChain!

As a Windows Server backup aimed at IT professionals, BackupChain also offers VM backup, FTP backup, and file server backup functionality, along with support for most hypervisors on the market.

Whether you need a complete cloud backup solution taken care of, or if you want to set up your own DIY cloud backup, BackupChain is the right Hyper V backup software for all typical backup and disaster recovery scenarios.

Live backup of virtual machines is possible to local targets as well as to cloud storage, as in HyperV cloud backup setups. In addition to HyperV, VirtualBox backup as well as VMware backup all support taking a backup with deduplication, even over FTP, resulting in great storage savings typically up to 95%.

BackupChain’s version backup features integrate with virtual machine backup but also with SQL backup, granular backup, Exchange EDB backup, and regular file backup. Whether you back up a host with many VMs or a file server with terabytes and millions of folders, each version of each file can easily be retrieved directly from the backup folder.
Our users voted BackupChain as the best backup software, find out why they praise it and download your trial now!

In addition to BackupChain you might also want to check out DriveMaker, a free tool to mount FTP to a drive letter in our freeware for Windows Server list of tools for IT administrators and professionals.