SQL VSS Writer Failed Due to Unregistered or Out of Date SQLVDI.DLL (4036194)

SQL_VSS_Writer fails during snapshot or base images creation.

SQLVDI.DLL not registered properly in Windows.

Windows Application log on SQL Server may report one of the following

events;
EventID: 1
Source: SQLVDI
Description:
SQLVDI: Loc=CVDS::CreateEx. Desc=Security initialization failed.ErrorCode=(0). Process=3468. Thread=2556. Client. Instance=.    VD=Global\BPC_SQL_00__7bc4ef5b_1c89_4392_95e5_6b890ac71ec0_.

EventID: 1
Source: SQLVDI
Description:
SQLVDI: Loc=ShareProcessHandle. Desc=GetSecurityInfo. ErrorCode=(5)Access is denied. Process=3468. Thread=2556. Client.

SQLVDI.DLL is a process that is the part of the Virtual Device Interface for Backup/Restore, and is a counter part to SQL VSS. When sqlvdi is out of date or a wrong version, it can cause SQL_VSS_Writer to fail, thus failing snapshots.

In some cases this is also caused by a previous installation of SQL being installed, and although properly removed the SQLVDI.dll file remained in the following path
“c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\80\COM”

To resolve this issue, complete the following steps.

You can use the following link to help find the correct version of VDI you need:
http://www.sqlbackuprestore.com/vdiversions.htm

Note: Stop Agent Service before performing next steps

Check MS SQL Support site to find the latest updates for your SQL Server.

Re-register SQLVDI.dll

• Stop all of the SQL Services.
• Launch Windows Explore, search for, and document the location of each instance of sqlvdi.dll.
• Click Start, click Run, type Regsvr32 Path\SQLVDI.DLL in the Open box, and then click OK.
• Restart the SQL Server.
• Note: you can also copy the SQLVDI.dll from another good installation of same matching server.
• Then open an administrative command prompt, change the directory to the correct location, and run REGSVR32 SQLVDI.DLL to register the DLL.