Snapshot Operation fail with error code: 3 - Quiesce operation canceled.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Virtual machine backup operations (such as those using Commvault or Avamar) fail when attempting to create a quiesced snapshot. vCenter reports a failure to quiesce the guest operating system.

Symptoms:

• Backup fails with error code 10052.
• vCenter displays: An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine.
• The log file /var/run/log/hostd.log contains: The error code was: 3 The error message was: Quiesce operation canceled

Environment

• vCenter Server 7.x / 8.x
• Windows Guest Operating Systems

Cause

The failure is caused by the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) within the guest OS. This typically occurs when:

• The VSS service is stopped.
• One or more VSS writers are in a "Failed" or "Unstable" state.
• The Microsoft Service Control Manager aborts the operation.

Resolution

Follow these steps to verify and restore VSS functionality:

1. Log in to the Windows Guest OS as an administrator.
2. Open Command Prompt and run the following command: vssadmin list writers
3. Review the output for any writers with a state other than [1] Stable. If writers have failed, restart the corresponding service or the VM.
4. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
5. Locate the Volume Shadow Copy service.
6. Right-click the service, select Properties, and set the Startup type to Automatic.
7. If the service is stopped, click Start.
8. Restart the VMware Tools service.
9. Attempt the snapshot or backup operation again.

If the issue persists, update VMware Tools to the latest version. See: Download Broadcom products, patches and software

Additional Information

For detailed information on VSS architecture, refer to the Microsoft documentation:

How Volume Shadow Copy Service Works


Japanese Version:
スナップショット操作が error code: 3 - Quiesce operation canceled で失敗する