[ISSUE] b20251 b20257 b20262 b20270 b20282 b20287 Formatting a volume fails

YanranHao I have decided to install this server from scratch. I can confirm this has fixed the issue. 

It seem there was a problem with PowerShell New-Volume introed in B20251 which did not fix with upgrades to later versions.

Now I have installed b20234 from scratch the issue is completely gone. 
Maybe you can find something in the logs but it seems to be a local issue that happens when upgrading from previous versions. 

Thanks for your time. I will retry the behaviour once after upgrading to 20239 or later to make sure it does not reappear, is this ok?

Hello YanranHao i have reproduced the issue with Server Manager and recorded it. I have sent you the Onedrive link in a direct message. 
let me know if there is anything else I can do and if the file is helpful. Otherwise I can also try to repeat directly with PowerShell New-Volume if this record does not include enough or relevant data.

YanranHao I tried to repo with the latest 20317 build. 
Repro steps: reset drive via Server Manager

Try format via Server manager (incl. initialize GPT)
fails at formatting

This is the output after the known error in diskpart. 

Interestingly everything seems fine here.
The Server Manager 

OK - initialized the drive as GPT

OK created partitions as expected
NOT OK - even created a volume but it is marked offline (corrected manually - diskpart online)

NOT OK - both volumes are RAW

As suggested I marked it online. As said it is selected by default

assign letter x

format fs=ntfs quick

Format-Volume and also Server Manager Format... works either way.
So the issue is in the commandlet "New-Volume" which is used in the Server Manager wizard to complete following tasks

OK - initializing

OK - Partitioning
FAIL - formatting (volumes remain RAW and primary partition if marked offline with no mounting point or FileSystemLabel

YanranHao it is clear now that the root cause is in Server Manager and the underlying PowerShell command "New-Volume" used by Server Manager

as pure formatting works with:

- diskpart > format
- Server Manager aka PowerShell Format-Volume
- format.com

How should I proceed with the time travel debugging. Which process to monitor? Thanks!

YanranHao yes sure you see the the error message on diskpart (even with the latest build and other disks (SATA,NvME / vendor and MS defaut storage drivers - I want to guess it is not a driver issue at all)

[ISSUE] b20251 b20257 b20262 b20270 b20282 b20287 Formatting a volume fails - Microsoft Tech Community

OK - diskpart

OK - sel dis x

OK - clean

OK - convert gpt

OK - create part pri 

NOT OK - format fs=xxx quick 

Hello YanranHao,
yes this works. We can narrow this issue down to specific methods

OK - Diskmanagement
OK - format.com (if I have a raw volume with a drive letter)

OK - PowerShell 5.1 format-volume
OK - Settings > System > Storage > Manage Disks & Volumes > Create Volume
OK - Windows Admin Center > Storage 
NOT OK - diskpart > format fs=xxxx quick (GPT initialization, volume / partition creation works)
NOT OK - PowerShell 5.1 New-Volume (GPT initialization, volume / partition creation would work if done with other cmdlets)
NOT OK - Server Manager > File > Disk / Volume Wizards (GPT initialization is ok, volume / partition creation fails at formatting, leaving the disk unusable until initialized again)

Hope it helps to fix the regression. If you need more information let me know.

Karl-WE Can you try the following in Disk Management and share the result?

1. initializing as GPT

2. Create a volume with "New Simple Volume" with the option "Do not format this volume" selected in the New Simple Volume Wizard. This option should be on a "Format Partition" page. 

3. See if you have a partition created with a new volume mounted as RAW.

4. If step 3 succeeds, try format the volume as NTFS as and see if it works.

YanranHao thank you! If they need a remote session to get a better idea of the issue, I am fine with this. The issue is 100% reproducible here for many builds now. 

Hi Karl-WE,

Based on your description it looks formatting the volume works well and the issue arising from formatting the partition. I'll direct this issue to the appropriate dev team and ask them to take a look.

YanranHao AndrewHansen hi there meanwhile I have bought a new SSD 870 EVO and the behaviour is the same as with this internal NVME.

Also I am on 20295 now. It would mean a lot of work to go back and find out when this was introed and if I would see the same with 2019 LTSC. 

What can we do?

So can exclude finally exclude following factors imho:

- NvME driver (MS Default NvME or Samsung NvME 3.3)

- device issue

as the new SSD is connected via SATA3 an not NvME.

When you have time to reproduce this, can you please assure that you also have the deduplication feature installed? It does not have to be configured for the drive we want to format.

YanranHao I assume this is what Server Manager does as it result in the same error

so let's try a combination of the previous (creation of a raw volume with diskpart) and formatting with Powershell

Results: works



I see no relation to the used driver as both (Samsung or Standard NvME) give the same error and behaviour
1. format.com works only if I create a raw vol via diskpart and assign a letter to meet the technical requirements. Formatting is ok

2. format-volume works the same way
3. New-Volume and Server Manager give the same error. 

I have to assume that something is wrong with the new-volume cmdlet in the step to create a raw volume and assign the letter - because if manually done by diskpart this formatting is not an issue.

I understand you cannot reproduce this at your side, but on this system it is a consistent case and I hope we can find the reason for this insider. 

YanranHao I have no clue why Server Manager behaves this way but know it does utilize PowerShell under the hood (should).
for WAC this should be true the same way but something is different.
I will repeat the steps above and will try to leverage format-volume next and see what happens in comparison to format.com