AlphaVSS - Bringing Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to .NET

New Post: Visual Studio Compatibility

pro99 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:45:09 GMT

I'm having problem opeing the AlphaVSS.sln solution file with Visual C#/C++ Express 2010. I'm suing version 1.2 (.Net 4.0) bu t it gives me solution folder error. It also compalins about .vcporj file. I've 2010 express and Visual studio 2008 Professional. Which version of source code would be best for my config. Any work around for 2010 express. Thanks.

Closed Task: Add missing documentation (XML Doc Comments) [17358]

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:31:32 GMT

Comments: Resolved with changeset 86120.

Source code checked in, #86120

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:31:30 GMT

Added some missing XmlDoc comments. Removed method QueryRevertStatus since the asynchronous versions seemed to be the only ones that made sense.

New Post: Crash on X64 :(

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:06:20 GMT

Seems strange that it is the x86 binary that gets loaded since this will likely not work on an X64 platform. Is there anything that you can think of that makes your application run as a 32-bit app?

// Decaf

New Post: Win2008 R2 - LoadImplementation Fails

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:04:01 GMT

Hard to say without more information. Are your executable and all the AlphaVSS binaries located in the same directory?

// Decaf

Created Task: Delay-signing causes many problems for developers and should be removed. [17360]

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:02:04 GMT

Delay-signing makes it overly complicated to build this already complicated project in terms of building.
The benefits are quite limited and perhaps even questionable.
To ensure that binaries originate from the proper location a code signing certificate should be used, since strong-naming is not sufficient for this purpose.
So provide an SNK with the public/private keypair to use for signing, possibly use another one for "official releases", although this seems sort of redundant as well.

Created Task: Run code analysis and fix any issues reported. [17359]

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:58:29 GMT

Created Task: Add missing documentation (XML Doc Comments) [17358]

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57:43 GMT

Commented Task: Sample application needed [8328]

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:55:56 GMT

A small sample application demonstrating some basic usage of AlphaVSS would be really beneficial and should be added.
Comments: Associated with changeset 86119.

Source code checked in, #86119

decaf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:55:54 GMT

- Added new sample application AlphaShadow with many features demonstrated. - Many other minor and in some cases more major and breaking changes. - See ChangeLog.txt for more details.

New Post: exchange last backup date

AnGor — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:36:19 GMT

how can I get last full backup date and last incremental backup date using alpha vss (C#)?

please advise

New Post: VB.Net: How To Display Previous Shadow Copy Versions of File Allowing User to Choose One

Shane32 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:08:25 GMT

Using AlphaVSS you can list the volumes using Alphaleonis.Filesystem.Volume.GetVolumes and GetVolumePathNamesForVolume

To emulate "vssadmin list shadows", generally it's like this:

Using y = CreateVssBackupComponents()
  y.InitializeForBackup(Nothing)
  y.SetContext(Vss.VssSnapshotContext.All)
  For Each z In y.QuerySnapshots()
    'match z.OriginalVolumeName against the proper
    '  volume name matched in the GetVolumes command
    'store the z.SnapshotDeviceObject string to use later
  Next
End Using

Using AlphaFS you can manipulate and open files on these volumes. I would simply list updated files based on a newer date stamp, but if you need byte-accuracy, you can open a data stream and compare the data within the .NET framework.

For high-speed data compare operations, you can use the following access to the Win32 API:

Declare Function IsArrayDifferent Lib "msvcrt.dll" Alias "memcmp" (ByVal byteArray1() As Byte, ByVal byteArray2() As Byte, ByVal bytesToCompare As Integer) As Boolean

Of course, it would be best if it was wrapped in a "safe" function to automatically determine the bytes to compare, and immediately return false if either array Is Nothing, or if the length of the arrays are different.

Shane

New Post: Win2008 R2 - LoadImplementation Fails

Chanand — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:33:22 GMT

Hi,

I've got a Windows2008 R2 server, with Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable installed on it.

I keep getting FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'AlphaVSS.60.x64.dll' or one of its dependencies, when calling VssUtils.LoadImplementation()

What am I missing here?

New Post: VB.Net: How To Display Previous Shadow Copy Versions of File Allowing User to Choose One

socrtwo22 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:22:34 GMT

I finally decided to go ahead and start coding. Please make suggestions for speeding up the code or what do with files that are found to be different from the recovery file target. Is there a simpler way to do this with AlphaVSS and AlphaFS?

Private Sub Button1_Click_2(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

    'Find out the number of vss shadow snapshots (restore 
    'points). All shadows apparently have a linkable path 
    '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy#,
    'where # is a simple one or two or three digit integer.
    Dim objProcess As New Process()
    objProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
    objProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
    objProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
    objProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True
    objProcess.StartInfo.FileName() = "vssadmin"
    objProcess.StartInfo.Arguments() = "List Shadows"
    objProcess.Start()

    Dim burp As String = objProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd
    Dim strError As String = objProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
    objProcess.WaitForExit()
    Dim xnum As Integer = 0
    Dim counterVariable As Integer = 1
    ' Call Regex.Matches method.
    Dim matches As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(burp, _
			"HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy")
    ' Loop over matches.
    For Each m As Match In matches
        xnum = xnum + 1
    'When it has reached it's maximum value, xnum + 1 
    'is finally the number of existing shadow snapshots.
    Next
    objProcess.Close()

    Do
        'Here I make symbolic links to all the shadows, one at a time 
	'and loop through until all shadows are exposed as folders in C:\.
        Dim myProcess As New Process()
        myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe"
        myProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
        myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
        myProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
        myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
        myProcess.Start()
        Dim myStreamWriter As StreamWriter = myProcess.StandardInput
        myStreamWriter.WriteLine("mklink /d C:\shadow" & _counterVariable & _
		" \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy" & _
		counterVariable & "\")
        myStreamWriter.Close()
        myProcess.WaitForExit()
        myProcess.Close()

        ' Here I compare our recovery target file against the shadow copies.
        Dim sFile As String = PathTb.Text
        Dim sFileShadowPath As String = "C:\shadow" & counterVariable & _
					DelFromLeft("C:", sFile)
        Dim jingle As New Process()
        jingle.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe"
        jingle.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
        jingle.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
        jingle.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
        jingle.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
        jingle.Start()
        Dim jingleWriter As StreamWriter = jingle.StandardInput
        jingleWriter.WriteLine("fc """ & sFile & """ """ & _
				sFileShadowPath & """")
        jingleWriter.Close()
        jingle.WaitForExit()
        Dim jingleReader As StreamReader = jingle.StandardOutput
        Dim JingleCompOut As String = jingleReader.ReadToEnd
        jingleReader.Close()
        jingle.WaitForExit()
        jingle.Close()
        Dim jingleBoolean As Boolean = JingleCompOut.Contains( _
			"not differences encountered").ToString
        If jingleBoolean = "True" Then
            MsgBox(jingleBoolean)
        Else
            'I haven't decided what to do with the paths of 
	    'files that are different from the recovery target.
            MsgBox("No")
        End If

        counterVariable = counterVariable + 1
    Loop Until counterVariable = xnum + 1

End Sub

New Post: Exchange VSS Backup Copy?

gregarican — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:52:08 GMT

Oops, I meant wrapping the COPYFILE function using DLLIMPORT (not PINVOKE), since this KERNEL32.DLL function is unmanaged code...

New Post: Exchange VSS Backup Copy?

gregarican — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:47:18 GMT

Using VSSADMIN I have found the Instance and Writer ID's for the Exchange 2003 Server VSS object. Two questions. Does anyone have any sample C# source for actually taking the backup? I'm assuming I need to wrap the COPYFILE function from the KERNEL32.DLL using PINVOKE, which I have done. I'm just having trouble working through some of the functionality in order to write the VSS backup to a local disk. Second question is that when I run VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS on the Exchange 2003 Server I see that this VSS object is almost constantly stuck in State [5]: Waiting for completion. Any way around this? I don't want to keep rebooting the server, and I know that no other backup software is currently holding up the works...

New Post: Crash on X64 :(

robert592 — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:07:26 GMT

Hello

I've a problem with X64 platform.

->Visual 2010

-> dotnet 4.0

->VSS work fine on windows XP 32 bits (my dev plateform)

-> Crash on windows 7 x64, (not dev platform, but framework 4 is installed, Package redistribuable Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 (x86) and Package redistribuable Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 (x64) are installed) (he want to use AlphaVSS.60.x86.dll, normal?)

Program is compil with "any cpu"

my code:

using System.IO;

using Alphaleonis.Win32.Vss;

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        private static extern bool CopyFileEx(string lpExistingFileName, string lpNewFileName, CopyProgressRoutine lpProgressRoutine, int lpData, ref int pbCancel, uint dwCopyFlags);
        private delegate uint CopyProgressRoutine(long TotalFileSize, long TotalBytesTransferred, long StreamSize, long StreamBytesTransferred, uint dwStreamNumber, uint dwCallbackReason, IntPtr hSourceFile, IntPtr hDestinationFile, IntPtr lpData);


  public static void CopyFile(string source, string destination)
        {


      //     try
     //       {
                var oVSSImpl = VssUtils.LoadImplementation();
           
                using (var vss = oVSSImpl.CreateVssBackupComponents())
                {
                    vss.InitializeForBackup(null);

                    vss.SetBackupState(false, true, VssBackupType.Full, false);

                    using (var async = vss.GatherWriterMetadata())
                        async.Wait();

                    vss.StartSnapshotSet();
                    string volume = new FileInfo(source).Directory.Root.Name;
                    var snapshot = vss.AddToSnapshotSet(volume, Guid.Empty);

                    using (var async = vss.PrepareForBackup())
                        async.Wait();

                    using (var async = vss.DoSnapshotSet())
                        async.Wait();

                    var props = vss.GetSnapshotProperties(snapshot);
                    string vssFile = source.Replace(volume, props.SnapshotDeviceObject + @"\");

                    int cancel = 0;
                    CopyFileEx(vssFile, destination, null, 0, ref cancel, 0);
                   
                }
       //    }
       //     catch
       //     {
       //     }

        }

Have you an idea to help me ?

thanks

New Post: VB.Net: How To Display Previous Shadow Copy Versions of File Allowing User to Choose One

socrtwo22 — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:51:42 GMT

This is a cross post from Stack Overflow, but I haven't gotten a response there yet.

I'm writing an Excel file recovery program with VB.Net that tries to be a convenient place to gather and access Microsoft's recommended methods. If your interested in my probably kludgy, error filled, and lacking enough cleanup code it's here: http://pastebin.com/v4GgDteY. The basic functionality seems to work although I haven't tested graph macro table recovery yet.

It occurred to me that Vista and Windows 7 users could benefit from being offered a list of previous versions of the file within my application if the Shadow Copy Service is on and there are previous copies. How do I do this?

I looked at a lot of web pages but found no easy to crib code. One possibility I guess would be to use vssadmin via the shell but that is pretty cumbersome. I just want to display a dialogue box like the Previous Versions property sheet and allow users to pick one of the previous versions. I guess I could just display the previous version property sheet via the shell or something but I also want to be able to offer the list for Vista Home Basic and Premium Users who don't have access to that tab even though apparently the previous versions still exist and maybe even XP users the same functionality if that is possible although I'm pretty sure with XP only the System files are in the shadow copies.

I looked at MSDN on the Shadow Copy Service and went through all the pages, I also looked at AlphaVSS and AlphaFS and all the comments. I'm kind of guessing that I need to use AlphaVss and AlphFS and do the following?

Find out the list of snapshots/restore points that exist on the computer.
Mount those snapshots.
Navigate in the mounted volumes to the Excel file the user wants to recover and make a list of those paths.
With the list of paths handy, compare with some kind of diff program, the shadow copies of the files with the original.
Pull out the youngest or oldest version (I don't think it matters) of those shadow copies that differ from the recovery target.
List those versions of the files that are found to be different.

This seems cumbersome and slow, but maybe is the fastest way to do things. I just need some confirmation that is the way to go now.

New Post: Exchange Transaction logs

kamesenin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:40:13 GMT

Hello everybody,

I adapted the AlphaVSS VssBackup.cs sample and try create a backup of Microsoft Exchange Server.

I use the VssBackup in component mode and added the exchange writer components. After the backup, I call the BackupSucceded method for each component.

The problem is, that after the backup is performed the transaction logs don't get removed by the writer. Is there something else I should call for that? Has anyone else has a similar problem?

Thanks,

Paul

New Post: LoadImplementation Fails

daphydthebard — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:08:50 GMT

Hi Folks,

I'm running Visual Studio 2010 Premium on a Windows 7 Home Premium Sp1 on a 64 bit Intel Core i7 machine.

I have referenced the common dll from my project, and imported all the other dll's into the solution and set them to "copy to output folder" so that they are present in builds.

I'm building my application with DEBUG and ANY CPU configuration.

When my application runs the following line of code:

IVssImplementation vssI = VssUtils.LoadImplementation();

I get this error message:

Could not load file or assembly 'AlphaVSS.60.x64.dll' or one of its dependencies. The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B1)

I have checked to ensure that all the supporting DLL's (including the one it's complaining about) are present in the BIN folder of my application's build.

Scouring through the crash dump, I get the following interesting results. For some reason, it's looking in D:\Coding\AlphaVSS\Release\1.1\Source\AlphaVSS.Common\Classes\ for vssUlts.cs (??)

Any clues as to why this might be happening and the assembly is failing to load? I'm stumped. Thanks in advance for any help.

System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'AlphaVSS.60.x64.dll' or one of its dependencies. The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B1)

at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)

at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)

at System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(AssemblyName assemblyRef)

at Alphaleonis.Win32.Vss.VssUtils.LoadImplementation() in D:\Coding\AlphaVSS\Release\1.1\Source\AlphaVSS.Common\Classes\VssUtils.cs:line 119