The Problem:

When Attempting to enable VSS on a new LaCie 2Big drive, I received the error:

Could not apply the settings for the following reason:

The filename, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect. (ox8007007B)

Could not apply the settings for the following reason: The filename, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect. (ox8007007B)

After clicking “OK”, a second error immediately pops up that says:

There was an unexpected error in the property page:

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. (0x8007007B)

Please close the property page and try again.

There was an unexpected error in the property page: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. (0x8007007B) Please close the property page and try again.

After every subsequent attempt to edit the VSS settings, only the second dialog box is given in response. If you change the volume label you will again see the first error message once, and then after that the second only.

My Solution:

In the “System Properties” dialog box, on the “System Protection” tab (or type “SystemPropertiesProtection.exe” into the Start Menu and hit enter), make sure that there is only one C: drive in the list. If you see more than one C: drive that has protection turned on, either remove protection from all C: drives or leave protection on for the C: drive that has the Windows logo on it. Then once again try to enable the protection settings for the original volume that your were working with.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, try some of the other suggested fixes in this thread.

The Story:

I was attempting to turn on Volume Shadow Copy for a brand new LaCie Two Big hard drive that I have, but was greeted with the error messages already listed above. I wondered if it was because the volume label had a number in it. I changed it with label.exe to remove the numerals but still received the error.

Searching the web for those errors reveals that a lot of people are receiving them while trying to run a Windows backup. This post in a thread at sevenforums.com revealed that there are several possible fixes to the issue. If you’re still having issues even after the above fix, check out the other possibilities in that post.

According to Dell, the error is as a result of system restore points being pointed to a place that does not exist. How or why that situation came about in the first place is still a mystery to me. Also, I still do not know why the restore points of one drive affect the VSS option on a completely different drive.