You receive a "Volume Shadow Copy Service" error message and event 5013 or event 12302 is logged when you use the Backup feature in Windows XP or in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

When you use the Backup feature (Ntbackup.exe) in Microsoft Windows XP or in Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:When this problem occurs, an event that is similar to one of the following may be logged in the Application log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: VSS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5013
Date: 8/19/2005
Time: 10:38:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ComputerName
Description: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Shadow Copy writer ContentIndexingService called routine RegQueryValueExW which failed with status 0x80070002 (converted to 0x800423f4). For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://support.microsoft.com.
Data: 0000: 57 53 48 43 4f 4d 4e 43 WSHCOMNC 0008: 32 32 39 32 00 00 00 00 2292.... 0010: 57 53 48 43 49 43 00 00 WSHCIC.. 0018: 32 38 37 00 00 00 00 00 287.....

Event Type: Error
Event Source: VSS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 12302
Date: 8/19/2005
Time: 10:38:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ComputerName
Description: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: An internal inconsistency was detected in trying to contact shadow copy service writers. Please check to see that the Event Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service are operating properly. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://support.microsoft.com.

This problem may occur when you are trying to perform one of the following actions:

• Back up a system
• Restore a system
• Create a volume shadow copy

This problem occurs because the Location registry entry in the following registry subkey is incorrect or missing: This problem occurs when you uninstall a program that is listed in this registry subkey, but only the location information is removed from the registry subkey.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To resolve this problem, make sure that the correct location information is listed for each program that is listed in the registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex\Catalogs
3. Click the registry subkey for each program that is listed under the Catalogs registry subkey. For each registry subkey, verify whether the Location registry entry exists.
4. If the Location registry entry is missing for a selected program, verify whether the program is still installed.
5. If the program is not installed, right-click the registry subkey for the program under the Catalogs subkey, and then click Delete. If the program is installed, correct the location information.
6. Restart the computer, and then use Windows Backup Utility to test this problem.

Note You may have to reinstall the program to correct the registry subkey.

By default, the following subkeys are configured in the following way: