Avamar - Cannot browse SharePoint Farm in Avamar UI

Summary: Microsoft SharePoint VSS writer service is either not running, or not registered. Backup fails "avmossvss Error <14046>: There are no expanded targets for backup "

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Symptoms

Cannot browse SharePoint Farm in Avamar UI with error (the Writer service is either not running, or not registered). 

Relevant portion of the backup log:

2014-07-17 20:10:18 avmossvss Info <8871>: Gathering writer metadata...
2014-07-17 20:10:29 avmossvss Info <14073>: Writer {da452614-4858-5e53-a512-38aab25c61ad} declares 0 components for backup:
2014-07-17 20:10:29 avmossvss Error <14046>: There are no expanded targets for backup
2014-07-17 20:10:29 avmossvss Error <13977>: Error occurred during expanding targets for backup.

 

 

Cause

SharePoint VSS writer is not registered because of upgrade, updating, or configuration.

Resolution

  1. Confirm SharePoint VSS Writer service set to "Log On as" SharePoint Farm Admin account (<domain>\<user>) 
  2. As the SharePoint administrator, in the SharePoint PowerShell run the following command:
     
stsadm -o unregisterwsswriter

 stsadm -o registerwsswriter

 

 

 New PowerShell cmdlets are introduced for SharePoint 2022:

Register-SPVssWriter
 Registers the SharePoint VSS Writer service on the local server.

Unregister-SPVssWriter
 Unregisters the SharePoint VSS Writer service on the local server.

 

  1. Confirm the SharePoint VSS writer Service startup type is set to "Automatic"
  2. Add the Farm Admin account to the local Admin Group on SharePoint Front-End Server. 
  3. Restart SharePoint VSS Writer Service.
  4. Confirm the SharePoint VSS writer is listed (check using 'vssadmin list writers' in the command prompt)

Affected Products

Avamar Plug-in for SharePoint, Avamar Plug-in for SharePoint VSS

Products

Avamar, Avamar Client
Article Properties
Article Number: 000039350
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 03 Apr 2025
Version:  5
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