I'm trying to image a SATA laptop hard drive, using DriveImageXML, that is attached to my computer via a USB adapter. I'm running Win7 Ultimate 64 bit.

DriveXML is returning:

Could not initialize Windows Volume Shadow Service (VSS). ERROR C:\Program Files (x86)\Runtime Software\Drivelmage XML\vss64.exe failed to start. ERROR TIMEOUT Make sure VSSVC.EXE is running in your task manager. Click Help for more information.

VSSVC.EXE is running in Task Manager, as is VSS64.exe. Looking at the FAQ on the Runtime webpage this turned up:

Please verify in Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services that the following services are enabled:

MS Software Shadow Copy Provider

Volume Shadow Copy

Also make sure you are able to stop and start these services.

Possible reasons for VSS failures:

For VSS to work, at least one volume in your computer must be NTFS. If you use only FAT drives, VSS will not function. The required NTFS volume does not need to be identical with the volume you want to image.

You should make sure that VSSVC.EXE is running in your task manager. If the problems persist, registering "oleaut.dll" and "oleaut32.dll" using "regsvr32" might help.

Both of those services are running and can be started and stopped without issue. Using "regsvr32" to register ""oleaut32.dll" returns successful, but "oleaut.dll" returns:

The module "oleaut.dll" failed to load.

Make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files.

The specified module could not be found.

Some other information that might be relevant. Browsing to the drive is successful, but accessing certain folders returns an "access" error. Windows runs a permissions adder that adds the current user profile to the NFTS permissions. Could this be the cause of the issue? DriveImage XML is running as Administrator.

Thoughts?