Windows VSS support

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You might try DiskShadow to create another drive letter, which is actually a shadow copy - then back that up instead.

Here’s my DiskShadow file:

#backup.dsh

#Make shadows persistent
SET CONTEXT PERSISTENT
SET VERBOSE ON

#Cab location for process
SET METADATA C:\Users\akrabu\backup.cab

BEGIN BACKUP

#Alias volume with alias
ADD VOLUME C: ALIAS CVOL

#Create Snapshot
CREATE

#Expose the volume and run command file then unexpose
EXPOSE %CVOL% X:
EXEC C:\Users\akrabu\.restic\backup.bat
UNEXPOSE X:

END BACKUP

#Delete the shadow copy
DELETE SHADOWS SET %VSS_SHADOW_SET%

So that basically creates a shadow copy at X:\ then runs the backup script then “unexposes” (deletes) the shadow copy. You would call it by running:

C:\Users\akrabu\.restic\diskshadow.exe -s C:\Users\akrabu\.restic\backup.dsh

Then just make sure your backup script references X:\ (or whatever letter you choose in the .dsh file) instead of C:\

Another example:
https://ss64.com/nt/diskshadow.html

Only hitch I’ve ran into is sometimes DiskShadow won’t unexpose the X:\ and then subsequent backups fail until you notice there’s an X:\ hanging around and manually remove it (and the only way I know to remove it is to delete ALL shadow copies (diskshadow delete shadows all), which sucks if you actually need other shadow copies to, say, restore a file).

That said, if your VSS is screwed up for whatever reason, diskshadow delete shadows all is a handy command to reset things back to scratch. Unlike other tools, it really will delete them all - not just the ones it has made itself. Just a pro-tip!

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