Windows OS Hub
  • Windows Server
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2012 R2
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • SCCM
  • Active Directory
    • Group Policies
  • Windows Clients
    • Windows 10
    • Windows 8
    • Windows 7
    • MS Office
    • Outlook
  • Virtualization
    • VMWare
    • Hyper-V
  • PowerShell
  • Exchange
  • Home
  • About

Windows OS Hub

  • Windows Server
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2012 R2
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • SCCM
  • Active Directory
    • Group Policies
  • Windows Clients
    • Windows 10
    • Windows 8
    • Windows 7
    • MS Office
    • Outlook
  • Virtualization
    • VMWare
    • Hyper-V
  • PowerShell
  • Exchange

 Windows OS Hub / Windows Server 2012 R2 / Unable to Start or Connect to Virtual Disk Service in Disk Management

January 28, 2019 Windows 10Windows Server 2012 R2

Unable to Start or Connect to Virtual Disk Service in Disk Management

I came across one strange error when trying to extend the size of the hard disk partition on Windows Server 2012 R2. After opening the Disk Management console (diskmgmt.msc), the list of available local disks was not displayed, and the following error appeared at the bottom of the Disk Management console:

Unable to connect to Virtual Disk Service.

If you connect to the computer remotely using Disk Management snap-in, the error looks like this:

Disk Management could not start Virtual Disk Service (VDS) on Host-Name.

Disk Management could not start Virtual Disk Service (VDS)

I try to expand the volume using the diskpart tool, but this tool didn’t work as well and returned the error:

Virtual Disk Service error:

The service failed to initialize.

diskpart Virtual Disk Service The service failed to initialize

In normal configuration, the VDS service in Windows is configured to start manually (Startup type – Manual). It means that it should be run if necessary if other apps access it. However, in our case it doesn’t happen on some reason.

It is clear that you should check the state of Virtual Disk (vds) service. After opening the services management console (services.msc), I saw that the Virtual Disk service was not running. When trying to start it manually (using the command: net start vds), I received an error:

The service is not responding to the control function.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2186.

The following related events appeared in the system event log:

A timeout (30000 milliseconds) was reached while waiting for the Virtual Disk service to connect.
Windows could not start the Virtual Disk service on Local Computer. Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

I tried to change the Virtual Disk service startup type from Manual to Automatic and restarted Windows.

Virtual Disk service startup type

After the restart, Virtual Disk service started successfully and both Disk Management and diskpart also worked properly.

If you cannot connect to the Virtual Disk service remotely, make sure that the following inbound rules are enabled in the Windows firewall:

  • Remote Volume Management — Virtual Disk Service (RPC);
  • Remote Volume Management — Virtual Disk Service Loader (RPC).

You can enable remote access to VDS service using the following netsh commands:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Volume Management" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Windows Firewall Remote Management” new enable =yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”remote administration” new enable=yes

If the Virtual Disk service doesn’t start after that, open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and make sure that the ALL APPLICATION PACAKAGES group in the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vds has Read permissions.

vds (virtual disk) service registry permissions

If neither of the methods described above help to recover VDS, check the integrity of system files using this command:

sfc /scannow

0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
previous post
How to Inject Drivers into a Windows 10 WIM/ISO Install Image?
next post
Configuring SSO (Single Sign-On) Authentication on Windows Server RDS

Related Reading

How to Sign a PowerShell Script (PS1) with...

February 25, 2021

How to Shadow (Remote Control) a User’s RDP...

February 22, 2021

Configuring PowerShell Script Execution Policy

February 18, 2021

Configuring Proxy Settings on Windows Using Group Policy...

February 17, 2021

Updating Group Policy Settings on Windows Domain Computers

February 16, 2021

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Categories

  • Active Directory
  • Group Policies
  • Exchange
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • PowerShell
  • VMWare
  • MS Office

Recent Posts

  • Accessing USB Flash Drive from VMWare ESXi

    February 26, 2021
  • How to Sign a PowerShell Script (PS1) with a Code Signing Certificate?

    February 25, 2021
  • Change the Default Port Number (TCP/1433) for a MS SQL Server Instance

    February 24, 2021
  • How to Shadow (Remote Control) a User’s RDP session on RDS Windows Server 2016/2019?

    February 22, 2021
  • Configuring PowerShell Script Execution Policy

    February 18, 2021
  • Configuring Proxy Settings on Windows Using Group Policy Preferences

    February 17, 2021
  • Updating Group Policy Settings on Windows Domain Computers

    February 16, 2021
  • Managing Administrative Shares (Admin$, IPC$, C$, D$) in Windows 10

    February 11, 2021
  • Packet Monitor (PktMon) – Built-in Packet Sniffer in Windows 10

    February 10, 2021
  • Fixing “Winload.efi is Missing or Contains Errors” in Windows 10

    February 5, 2021

Follow us

woshub.com
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • RSS
Popular Posts
  • How to Allow Multiple RDP Sessions in Windows 10?
  • How to Repair EFI/GPT Bootloader on Windows 10?
  • How to Restore Deleted EFI System Partition in Windows 10?
  • Network Computers are not Showing Up in Windows 10
  • Booting Windows 7 / 10 from GPT Disk on BIOS (non-UEFI) systems
  • How to Run Program without Admin Privileges and to Bypass UAC Prompt?
  • Removable USB Flash Drive as Local HDD in Windows 10 / 7
Footer Logo

@2014 - 2018 - Windows OS Hub. All about operating systems for sysadmins


Back To Top