Disabling VSS in Vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter HAL
  • Start date Start date
H

HAL

I see Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS) is enabled at Vista user profiles.

I would like to know how this is configured, as it seem only active at
C:\Users and I do not seem to be able to configure it (e.g. turn it off).
 
HAL said:
I see Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS) is enabled at Vista user profiles.

I would like to know how this is configured, as it seem only active at
C:\Users and I do not seem to be able to configure it (e.g. turn it off).
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean that it seems only active at C:\Users. It is
involved in the creation of System Restore points, shadow copies of files,
and backups. As a service it's in the services console.
 
HAL said:
I see Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS) is enabled at Vista user profiles.

I would like to know how this is configured, as it seem only active at
C:\Users and I do not seem to be able to configure it (e.g. turn it off).
Click to expand...

Some aspects of VSS can be managed through the command line tool vssadmin.
Do vssadmin /? for info on the options.
 
Rock said:
I'm not sure what you mean that it seems only active at C:\Users. It is
involved in the creation of System Restore points, shadow copies of
files, and backups. As a service it's in the services console.
Click to expand...

So, it's actually important to have VSS active? So if I want to turn it
off, it's actually better to just set the c:\ maxsize to 1mb?
 
HAL said:
So, it's actually important to have VSS active? So if I want to turn it
off, it's actually better to just set the c:\ maxsize to 1mb?
Click to expand...

I don't know all the effects from turning it off, beyond no system restore
points, no volume shadow copies and no backups. Why don't you want it?
 
Rock said:
I don't know all the effects from turning it off, beyond no system
restore points, no volume shadow copies and no backups. Why don't you
want it?
Click to expand...

I don't like the security issues. People may have documents stored on
their laptops and if it gets stolen, thieves may recover important
documents. I do not fancy the full laptop encryption either, since it's
new and not widely in use yet.
 
I don't like the security issues. People may have documents stored on
their laptops and if it gets stolen, thieves may recover important
documents. I do not fancy the full laptop encryption either, since it's
new and not widely in use yet.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your reasoning. If the laptop is stolen, then they have
the data, so why does the presence of shadow copies and backups make it any
worse? It seems like your removing some useful features with little to be
gained by it.
 
I don't like the security issues. People may have documents stored on
their laptops and if it gets stolen, thieves may recover important
documents. I do not fancy the full laptop encryption either, since it's
new and not widely in use yet.
Click to expand...

VSS uses NTFS permissions from the area of the filesystem being
shadowed to control who has access to what.

If they can access the volume shadow storage of files then they can
also access the originals because they'll be logged on as the
appropriate user or an admin anyway, so disabling VSS won't buy you
much in this regard.

It's a security issue only if you regard it as a security issue that
once someone has stolen your car they can listen to whatever CD you
have in the player. Fair point, quite true, but I personally would be
worried more about the actual car.
 
Rock said:
I don't understand your reasoning. If the laptop is stolen, then they
have the data, so why does the presence of shadow copies and backups
make it any worse? It seems like your removing some useful features
with little to be gained by it.
Click to expand...

Because a lot of programs cache local copies of files.
 
Robert said:
VSS uses NTFS permissions from the area of the filesystem being shadowed
to control who has access to what.

If they can access the volume shadow storage of files then they can also
access the originals because they'll be logged on as the appropriate
user or an admin anyway, so disabling VSS won't buy you much in this
regard.

It's a security issue only if you regard it as a security issue that
once someone has stolen your car they can listen to whatever CD you have
in the player. Fair point, quite true, but I personally would be worried
more about the actual car.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how SAM data exist on Vista, but I'm sure it's possible to
brute-force any credentials like on XP.
 
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