It is possible to disable specific VSS writers with vSphere 4.0 and newer, in case of troubleshooting a VSS writer issue:
- log on to the virtual machine’s windows operating system
- open a command box and run: “vssadmin list writers”
You will now see the name and the state of all VSS writers…
- now open or create a vmbackup.conf file which is located at “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools”
If the file does not exist please create it! - now place the VSS writers name(s) you want to disable in the vmbackup.conf file. Use a seperate line for every writer, eg:WDS VSS Writer
NTDS
SqlServerWriter
Microsoft Exchange Writer - Now restart the VMware Tools service
If you want to enable the VSS Writer again, just delete the line in the vmbackup.conf file and restart the VMware Tools service.