Windows 7 (64 bit) backup will not run

I had a scheduled backup set up and noted it had failed. I tried to re-run manually. The system sat there saying backup in progress but the status bar did not move for 10 minutes and then failed. I got this error from the event viewer (event id 4104).

"The backup was not successful. The error is: Windows Backup failed while determining libraries location of one of the users included in backup. (0x81000031)."

In case it helps, there were the following VSS errors recorded at exactly the same time:

• (Event ID 8193) Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine GetProviderMgmtInterface. hr = 0x8004230f, The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process the specified operation
  
• (Event ID 12292) Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error creating the Shadow Copy Provider COM class with CLSID {65ee1dba-8ff4-4a58-ac1c-3470ee2f376a} [0x80080005, Server execution failed]
  
• (Event ID 11) Volume Shadow Copy Service information: The COM Server with CLSID {65ee1dba-8ff4-4a58-ac1c-3470ee2f376a} and name SW_PROV cannot be started. Most likely the CPU is under heavy load. [0x80080005, Server execution failed]
  

For this last one, i was only trying to perform the backup so I do not believe the CPUs were under "heavy load".

I searched the forums but nothing quite matches my symptoms. I did find something close to this and restored the default libraries on all users of the machine. However, I now cannot even start the service. The "Starting Windows Backup" dialog appears and just sits there and has done so for the last 20 minutes.

I am backing up to an external 2TB drive.

Any help and suggestions gratefully received!

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