within this time-frame, it fails the operation. By default, snapshots are temporary; they do not survive a reboot. The ability to create persistent snapshots was added in Windows Server 2003 onward. However, Windows 8 removed the GUI portion necessary to browse them. () Windows software and services that support VSS include Windows Failover Cluster, Windows Server Backup, Hyper-V, Virtual Server, Active Directory, SQL Server, Exchange Server and SharePoint. The end result is similar to a versioning file system, allowing any file to be retrieved as it existed at the time any of the snapshots was made. Unlike a true versioning file system, however, users cannot trigger the creation of new versions of an individual file, only the entire volume. As a side-effect, whereas the owner of a file can create new versions in a versioning file system, only a system administrator or a backup operator can create new snapshots (or control when new snapshots are taken), because this requires control of the entire volume rather than an individual file. Also, many versioning file systems (such as the one in VMS) implicitly save a version of files each time they are changed; systems using a snapshotting approach like Windows only capture the state periodically. History Windows XP and Server 2003 Volume Snapshot Service was first added to Microsoft Windows in Windows XP. It can only create temporary snapshots, used for accessing stable on-disk version of files that are opened for editing (and therefore locked). This version of VSS is used by NTBackup. The creation of persistent snapshots (which remain available across reboots until specifically deleted) has been added in Windows Server 2003, allowing up to 512 snapshots to exist simultaneously for the same volume. In Windows Server 2003, VSS is used to create incremental periodic snapshots of data of changed files over time. A maximum of 64 snapshots are stored on the server and are accessible to clients over the network. This feature is known as Shadow Copies for Shared Folders and is designed for a client–server model. Its client component is included with Windows XP SP2 or later, and is available for installation on Windows 2000 SP3 or later, as well as Windows XP RTM or SP1. Windows XP and later include a command line utility called vssadmin that can list, create or delete volume shadow copies and list installed shadow copy writers and providers. Windows Vista, 7 and Server