www.aiscl.co.uk

Barry,

Implementing AISBackup on Windows Vista went well. Except defining jobs by the Windows Task Scheduler results in the following errors:

1) defining jobs via AISBackup self results in "invalid username and password". No task visual added to the Windows Task Scheduler;

2) defining jobs via the Windows Task Scheduler is only successfull when configured for Windows 2003, XP or 2000. When configured for Windows Vista the task will only start and run but wihout any actions. A manual End is necessary.

With regards,

Bart Kamminga


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Hi Bart

There have been a few reports of Task Scheduler not working correctly, however this is likely to be a problem with Windows Vista and not AISBackup.

There was a problem setting up schedules that were fixed in version 2.4 of AISBackup. Today I set-up schedules using AISBackup to run either with or without a password – without a password the User must be logged on. A test was run with a password protected screen saver; the schedule ran okay.

The PC is running Vista Home Premium with UAC on (processes must be elevated to Administrator).

I set-up a job that backs up AISBackup and AISBackup data files, to ensure the files always change between backups.

To create a schedule to run under current user at now+2 minutes (as a test)

Manage Backup / Auto run this backup job (MS Task Scheduler) / Next / 12:25 (now + 2 minutes) / OK

If the PC is set to sleep before the schedule is due to run the schedule will not run.

I have read reports on the internet about problems with MS Task Scheduler so please let me know:

• Version of Windows Vista
  Is UAC active?
  What are the power settings?
  What time is the job to be executed?
  What are the screen saver settings (password required?)
  Anything else that may help me replicate the problem.

Barry

Baryy,

The username/password error also occures consequently within several Windows XP Professional SP2 (UK or NL) installations. It never succeeds. I think that this problem is related to ASBackup.

My configuration is:
Version of Windows Vista: Ultimate (allmost clean installation)
Is UAC active? Yes
What are the power settings? no sleep/standby
What time is the job to be executed? Several jobs between 18:00 and 22:00
What are the screen saver settings (password required?): No screensaver
Anything else that may help me replicate the problem. defining schedule task during logon with the same or different user makes results in the same error.

Please confirm you are using AISBackup version 2.4 and are you able to set-up the schedule working directly with the task scheduler?

To run a backup at logon a password protected username must be used because the job will run before anybody has logged on.

Barry

Barry,

I use version 2.4 (303) and defining schedules with the Vista Task Scheduler goes well. The tasks run under a special backup user with password. When configured for Vista the task starts and is active but nothing happens. Configured for Windows 2003, XP or 2000 everything works well.

Bart Kamminga

I did not even know there was a Configured for Windows 2003, XP or 2000 and Configured for Windows Vista option until you mentioned it. I have noticed that if the job is configured for Windows Vista AISBackup can no longer see the tasks.

When AISBackup creates the tasks on Windows Vista here (tested on home premium and ultimate) they are created as Configured for Windows 2003, XP or 2000, are they created as Configured for Windows Vista on your PC?

Barry

I must admit before you pointed out the fact there was a different scheduler with Windows Vista I did not know one existed.

I have been looking at the new Task Scheduler 2.0 that came with Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server (Server 2008) and found the following:

When manually creating a task to run in another password protected user more often than not the job failed, basically there seems to be a bug in the Vista Task Scheduler and selecting ‘Run whether user is logged on or not’ does not seem to work, the task is executed but fails with Error value is 2147943726 and operational code of (6619136). Actually, I do not think the bug is in the scheduler but the User Interface to the scheduler.

I then looked at the programmers interface to Task Scheduler 2.0 and managed to enumerate tasks, add or change tasks (in a folder especially for AISBackup) and remove tasks – this interface needs adding to AISBackup. What I found is tasks created by AISBackup do run when a password protected user is specified, and as a bonus they run interactively if the user is logged on. I then changed the trigger by working directly with the Task Scheduler and the task ran as expected.

There have been many reports (found via Google) that some tasks have been running for a while and then stop running, this may be because the task has expired, see the ‘Expire’ setting on the trigger, this should not be checked. I will set AISBackup tasks to never expire.

I will report back when the version of AISBackup with the updated task scheduler (and a lot more) has been uploaded.

Barry

I have uploaded pre-release version 2.5

http://www.aiscl.co.uk/aisbackupbeta.php

This contains the interface to the new Vista Scheduler and unlike Vista's own interface seems to work when scheduling jobs whether a user is logged on or not - this must be a pasword protected user if not already logged on.

I have also interfaced to the 'Wake to run schedule' option, that's pretty cool: If the PC is sleeping it wakes, backs up then falls back to sleep! AISBackup - The environment friendly backup utility

On Vista and Server 2008 AISBackup places its own schedules in an AISBackup folder to keep things tidy.

Barry

You mentioned that:

I have also interfaced to the 'Wake to run schedule' option, that's pretty cool: If the PC is sleeping it wakes, backs up then falls back to sleep! AISBackup - The environment friendly backup utility

Is it possible to get this functionality with XP, which is what we would like? (I suspect not.)

Many thanks,

Andrew

You can set the PC to wake from standby or hibernation by working directly with the task scheduler: Right click the schedule (after creating it with AISBackup) and choose Properties, click the Settings tab and then check the Wake the computer to run this task option.

Barry

This is correct. I have done this myself and it really works flawlessly.