I recently was helping a client who tried to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 2016 and had problems. I had to uninstall Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 and reinstall Dynamics CRM 2013 first. When doing so, I ran into an issue with the Volume Snapshot Service, also known as the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
What is VSS?
VSS is included in Microsoft Windows and allows taking manual or automatic backup copies (snapshots) of computer files and volumes, even if the files are in use. For example, with Dynamics CRM, there can be users in the system at all times. So, VSS allows backups to happen even while users are currently logged into the system.
Dynamics CRM Error & Fix
A little background, this Dynamics CRM server had gone through many various upgrades, all the way up to Dynamics CRM 2016 – but there were problems. So, I had to remove Dynamics CRM 2016, and try to reinstall Dynamics CRM 2013.
I ran into a problem installing the Dynamics CRM VSS Writer at version 2013. There was something left behind from 2016 that doesn’t allow you to go back and install the 2013 version.
To fix it, I used a simple workaround. I just skipped the installation of the 2013 VSS Writer. Then we could install Dynamics CRM 2013 without a problem and get back on track to upgrading the client to Dynamics CRM 2016.
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