I am attempting to create and access a Volume Shadow Copy snapshot using the Windows Power Shell in Windows 7. I found that I can create snapshots using the following via a previous superuser question:
(Get-WmiObject -list win32_shadowcopy).create("C:\","ClientAccessible")
I am unable to find any documentation indicating that it is possible to set a shadow copy to "Exposed" so that it can be mapped to a drive letter using WMI
. An article linked in the same question shows a hack using a junction to access the snapshot.
When I try to access the symlink, I get the following:
PS C:\Windows\system32> ls C:\shadowcopy
Get-ChildItem : The parameter is incorrect.
At line:1 char:3
+ ls <<<< C:\shadowcopy
+ CategoryInfo : ReadError: (C:\shadowcopy:String) [Get-ChildItem], IOException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirIOError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
Attempting to access the snapshot directly gives the following:
PS C:\Windows\system32> ls '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy14'
Get-ChildItem : Paths that begin with \\?\GlobalRoot are internal to the kernel and should not be opened by managed applications.
At line:1 char:3
+ ls <<<< '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy14'
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ChildItem], ArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ArgumentException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
How can I access a VSS snapshot from a powershell script?
How did you create the symlink? As outlined in that article, you have to specify the device path with a trailing backslash:
$s1 = (Get-WmiObject -List Win32_ShadowCopy).Create("C:\", "ClientAccessible")
$s2 = Get-WmiObject Win32_ShadowCopy | Where-Object { $_.ID -eq $s1.ShadowID }
$d = $s2.DeviceObject + "\" # <-- this here
cmd /c mklink /d C:\shadowcopy "$d"
After this, I was able to access the shadow copy mounted to C:\shadowcopy
just fine.
To unmount the shadow copy call $s2.Delete()
, as @KeyszerS pointed out in the comments.
So with the information provided here and the official microsoft documentation here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/vsswmi/create-method-in-class-win32-shadowcopy I created a couple powershell functions/cmdlets that solve this problem. Random note, as of powershell 5 new-item has the itemType of symbolicLink but when I tried to make one with the target being the shadow snapshot it fails saying the path doesn't exist, so the mklink tool is still the way to go.
function New-ShadowLink {
[CmdletBinding()]
param (
$linkPath="$($ENV:SystemDrive)\ShadowCopy"
)
begin {
Write-Verbose "Creating a snapshot of $($ENV:SystemDrive)\"
$class=[WMICLASS]"root\cimv2:win32_shadowcopy";
$result = $class.create("$ENV:SystemDrive\", "ClientAccessible");
Write-Verbose "Getting the full target path for a symlink to the shadow snapshot"
$shadow = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowCopy | Where-Object ID -eq $result.ShadowID
$target = "$($shadow.DeviceObject)\";
}
process {
Write-Verbose "Creating SymLink to shadowcopy at $linkPath"
Invoke-Expression -Command "cmd /c mklink /d '$linkPath' '$target'";
}
end {
Write-Verbose "Created link to shadowcopy snapshot of $($ENV:SystemDrive)\ at $linkPath";
Write-Verbose "Returning shadowcopy snapshot object"
return $shadow;
}
}
function Remove-ShadowLink {
[CmdletBinding()]
param (
$shadow,
$linkPath="$($ENV:SystemDrive)\ShadowCopy"
)
begin {
Write-verbose "Removing shadow copy link at $linkPath"
}
process {
Write-Verbose "Deleting the shadowcopy snapshot"
$shadow.Delete();
Write-Verbose "Deleting the now empty folder"
Try {
Remove-Item -Force -Recurse $linkPath -ErrorAction Stop;
}
catch {
Invoke-Expression -Command "cmd /c rmdir /S /Q '$linkPath'";
}
}
end {
Write-Verbose "Shadow link and snapshot have been removed";
return;
}
}
These could be utilized by copy pasting both functions then running them like this
$shadow = New-ShadowLink -Verbose;
ls C:\ShadowCopy # would show snapshot version of c drive
Remove-ShadowLink -shadow $shadow -Verbose;
ls C:\ShadowCopy # will give error as it doesn't exist
$s = New-ShadowLink -verbose
VERBOSE: Creating a snapshot of C:\
VERBOSE: Getting the full target path for a symlink to the shadow snapshot
VERBOSE: Creating SymLink to shadowcopy at C:\ShadowCopy
VERBOSE: Created link to shadowcopy snapshot of C:\ at C:\ShadowCopy
VERBOSE: Returning shadowcopy snapshot object
PS C:\> ls C:\ShadowCopy
Directory: C:\ShadowCopy
#ommitted my C drive listing, but it would be here
PS C:\> Remove-ShadowLink -shadow $s -Verbose
VERBOSE: Removing shadow copy link at C:\ShadowCopy
VERBOSE: Deleting the shadowcopy snapshot
VERBOSE: Deleting the now empty folder
VERBOSE: Shadow link and snapshot have been removed
PS C:\> ls C:\ShadowCopy
ls : Cannot find path 'C:\ShadowCopy' because it does not exist.