Quiesced VMware Snapshots Fails with error “Failed to Quiesce the Virtual Machine”

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Quiesced snapshot operations fail on the virtual machine, with the following error
  
  “An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine. Refer to the virtual machine's event log for more details. Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.”
  
  
• Standard snapshots (with memory) will complete successfully, indicating the issue is specific to quiesced snapshots.
  
  
• From Windows Event Logs: Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application, the application log shows the following event recorded during the snapshot failure:
  
  Event ID 513 source
Source: CAPI
Details: An error occurred while processing the OnIdentity() call for the System Writer object in the cryptographic service.
Details: AddLegacyDriverFiles: Unable to back up image of binary Microsoft Link-Layer Discovery Protocol.
System Error: Access is denied.

Environment

vSphere ESXi 7.x
vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

• This issue is caused by failed Windows VSS writers within the guest OS.
• Running the command vssadmin list writers from the Windows Command Prompt shows multiple writers in a FAILED state.
• Windows logs record Event ID 513 (Source: CAPI), indicating a cryptographic service failure with access denied errors.
• VMware Tools relies entirely on Windows VSS for quiesced snapshots and cannot control VSS writers, providers, or guest OS permissions.
• Non-quiesced snapshots succeed because they bypass Windows VSS and are taken directly at the hypervisor level.

Resolution

Rebooting the virtual machine temporarily restores VSS functionality and allows backups to succeed for approximately 1–2 days.

For resolution, engage the Guest OS vendor (Microsoft) to fully stabilize the affected VSS writers.