The latest Volume Shadow Copy Code Samples from Microsoft

So i just posted Part 1 discussing diskshadow. Now I’m excited to discuss some new code samples from Microsoft. We all hate the upgrade cycle. Microsoft is going to drag us down the update cycle kicking and screaming, but perhaps there are some good reasons for us to look at upgrading in the near future.

While seaching in vain for code examples of VSC API code for exposing Shadows that actually work I found MSDN code samples for VSC’s. The code samples are in C++ and only work in Windows 8 (unfortunately). The code is a rare glimmer of hope… Too bad they aren’t in C# or VB.NET. I’m not much of a C++ guy.

A few examples below have me really excited. Keep reading and you’ll see why. The examples speak for themselves so I won’t regurgitate here. I can’t wait to play around with these more once I have a better Win 8 environment.

I compiled and tested the code on my Windows 7 box (in VS 2012) and the samples really do only run on Windows 8. The code checks the OS version. I tried removing the check, re-compiled but then got COM+ exceptions; so it’s clear the COM in Windows 8 has changed. The code samples have mostly the same features as diskshadow but of course you get to see how they invoke the COM which could be useful. Hopefully some C# or VB samples are released soon.

  
That’s all for now. If you find more send me a link. I am starting to think about ShadowKit v2 and I’m in the research phase right now.  If i end up having to go Windows 8 + dot net 4.5 to get what I want then that is where I’ll go.

Enjoy!

Some exciting Windows 8 Examples:

 

VShadow Tool Examples

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/Bb530726

Volume Shadow Copy Service hardware provider sample

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/VSS-Sample-Provider-3096be2a