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This article explains the possible cause for the failure: ERROR: "Selected writer 'NTDS' is in failed state!shown in the VSS log when creating a disk image with Macrium Reflect.


To view the VSS log for a backup, click the 'Log' tab, expand the date and time nodes for the backup and click the 'VSS Log' node.





If you see the following text in the log:

ERROR: Selected writer 'NTDS' is in failed state!
- Status: 11 (VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_POST_SNAPSHOT)
- Writer Failure code: 0x800423f4 (<Unknown error code>)
- Writer ID: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}
Followed by:
Type Error
Event 412
Source ESENT
lsass (800) Unable to read the header of logfile \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\ntds\edb.log. Error -546.
Then you likely have a failure caused by disk sector size incompatibility with Windows. To resolve this issue install the following MS HotFix updates:

MS Hotfix for advanced format disks
MS Hotfix for ESENT and advanced format disks