Skip to main content

Forcing a Windows 7 client to create a Shadow Copy

By

Windows 7 has the ability to support Previous Versions lust like Windows XP and Vista did on a share hosted on a 2003 or 2008 server.  The difference is that the shadow copy can now be a local drive.  Thanks to a little help from Thomas Lee and a posting on the Win32_ShadowCopy from MSDN, you can force a Windows 7 to create a shadow copy.  The actual lines of PowerShell code are below.

# get static method
$class=[WMICLASS]"root\cimv2:win32_shadowcopy"
# create a new shadow copy
"Creating a new shadow copy"
$class.create("C:\", "ClientAccessible")

You can attempt to run this remotely by using PowerShell V2 remoting capability

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmm... this is the response my system (Win7 Ultimate 64-bit) spat back when I ran your script:

Exception calling "Create" : "Initialization failure "
At \temp\force-vss.ps1:5 char:14
+ $class.create <<<< ("C:\", "ClientAccessible")
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : WMIMethodException

Is there an alternative to "win32_shadowcopy" for 64-bit systems?
October 18, 2012 at 8:53 AM
Jason Yoder, MCT said…
You are correct. Thank you for catching that. This code was written on an X86 machine.

I did a bit of research on MSDN. Take a look at the bottom of this page. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394428(v=vs.85).aspx

You will see that someone else has commented on this issue. I'll take another look at this next week and see if I can find anything that will work on an X64.
October 18, 2012 at 9:45 AM
Jason Yoder, MCT said…
Here is something that is interesting. Take a look at the comments from John Homer. It looks like he has a script that might help you out.

http://serverfault.com/questions/119120/how-to-use-a-volume-shadow-copy-to-make-backups
October 18, 2012 at 10:22 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sticky Key problem between Windows Server 2012 and LogMeIn

By
This week I instructed my first class using Windows Server 2012 accessed via LogMeIn and discovered a Sticky Key problem every time you press the Shift key. Here is my solution to resolve this.  First off, in the Preferences of LogMeIn for the connection to the Windows Server, click General . Change the Keyboard and mouse priority to Host side user and click Apply at the bottom. On the Windows 2012 server, open the Control Panel – Ease of Access – Change how your keyboard works . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys . Click Set up Sticky Keys . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times . Click OK twice. If you are using Windows Server 2012 as a Hyper-V host, you will need to redo the Easy of Use settings on each guest operating system in order to avoid the Sticky Key Problem. Updated Information: March 20, 2013 If you continue to have problems, Uncheck Turn on Filter Keys .
6 comments
Read more

Where did a User’s Account Get Locked Out?

By
Updated: May 15, 2015 When this article was originally published, two extra carriage returns were add causing the code to malfunction.  The code below is correct.   My client for this week’s PowerShell class had a really interesting question. They needed to know where an account is being locked out at. OK, interesting. Apparently users hop around clients and forget to log off, leading to eventual lock out of their accounts. The accounts can be unlocked, but are then relocked after Active Directory replication. This problem is solved in two parts. The first one is to modify the event auditing on the network. The second part is resolved with PowerShell. The first part involves creating a group policy that will encompass your Domain Controllers. In this GPO, make these changes. Expand Computer Configuration \ Policies \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Advanced Audit Policy Configuration \ Audit Policies \ Account Management Double click User Account Management C...
18 comments
Read more

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

By
In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.
Post a Comment
Read more