I am looking for input. I have installed Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
and the SP1 update on my Windows XP SP2 server. I noticed that the VSS Writer
for Virtual Server was not present, but the er service is. So, I applied
Windows XP SP3, and its still absent. Does anyone know why the writer service
is missing in this configuration? I have done some searching on the net and I
dont find any related issues documented. I realize that Microsoft says that
Windows XP is for "Non-production use", however I would still expect that the
writer would be present.

Any input?
Thanks
Nick

For the benefit of others, I'm posting my findings:
I installed VS2005 EE R2 SP1 on another XP system and again noticed that the
VSS writer was not installed. If you look at the download page for the SP1
setup.exe under system requirements, you see that it lists Windows XP SP2
under system requirements. However, if you look under "Hosts" it lists
Windows XP SP2 as "Non-Production Use". From what I have seen, it looks like
the writer is intentionally not installed by MS. Therefore, you can probably
host machines on XP without any issues, but you probably will not be able to
protect them with backup applications unless they are shutdown and not
running, Or take the chance of using an open file option to back them up, but
taking a chance that they may not restore correctly. Hope this s others.

Nick


"Nick" wrote:

> I am looking for input. I have installed Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
> and the SP1 update on my Windows XP SP2 server. I noticed that the VSS Writer
> for Virtual Server was not present, but the er service is. So, I applied
> Windows XP SP3, and its still absent. Does anyone know why the writer service
> is missing in this configuration? I have done some searching on the net and I
> dont find any related issues documented. I realize that Microsoft says that
> Windows XP is for "Non-production use", however I would still expect that the
> writer would be present.
>
> Any input?
> Thanks
> Nick