Scheduled tasks stopped working

steiale

Running PA on Windows 2008 Server
Scheduled tasks
Tasks start on scheduled time
Then nothing happens. Status is running and thats it…

Seems it doesn’t even start to build a file list…

When I run the backup task manually everything works perfect.

Already created new tasks and new pbs files. No change.

Any ideas?

spwolf

what version of PA do you have running?

steiale

11.60.23… I saw right now that there is a new version.

Will an update solve my problem?

spwolf

dont know, try it out and let us know…

did scheduled tasks work before? If so, did you change something before they stopped working? There has to be an reason.

steiale

I know. Did change nothing. After they stopped working updated PA.
All PBS files screwed up. Did some new ones. Strange behavior. Some say not scheduled in PA. I can see in Windows Scheduler that they are scheduled.
Anyway. PA starts the pbs files… Then stuck.

I will update and try again. Why PBS Files never work after update of PA. Had that several times.

steiale

Still doesn’t work… I see all the tasks startet in time but not even one task is doing something.

Any ideas?

spwolf

go to task scheduler, right click on the task and run it…. does it work then?

steiale

No it doesn’t

Tasks starts… does nothing…

spwolf

but if you run same exact pbs manually it works fine?
(doubleclicking on it from explorer)

steiale

Yes clicking from PA application works superb…!!

spwolf

@steiale:

Yes clicking from PA application works superb…!!

then something has to be wrong with task scheduler side of things… check one of the schedules, maybe it is running under wrong user or something similar.

steiale

Already checked several times…!! Can’t it be that there is something wrong with the PA Schedule string?
User is domain admin. So it has to work…

It it would run under wrong user it wouldn’t start or am I wrong there?

When I run the scheduled task even a tmp file is created but then nothing. No idea why…

spwolf

@steiale:

Already checked several times…!! Can’t it be that there is something wrong with the PA Schedule string?
User is domain admin. So it has to work…

It it would run under wrong user it wouldn’t start or am I wrong there?

When I run the scheduled task even a tmp file is created but then nothing. No idea why…

did you try manually to schedule pbs starting? that might give us few answers.

steiale

Yes I did… no success either…

Put the whole string in cmd box… Error box comes up… The system cannot find the file specified… pbs will be emptied then… Has to do a pbs again… Think this is a bug…

spwolf

cant you browse to the pbs? That will make sure it works properly…

steiale

Sure I can… in cmd box and explorer…

spwolf

@steiale:

Sure I can… in cmd box and explorer…

dont confuse me :-). I mean in the task scheduler> New Task. Create new task and then browse to pbs script and set it up there, manually.

///

For command prompt you probably did not full path properly (which is not important, disregard command prompt).

steiale

Created new task. Gave the script to start. PA will be started and does nothing…

spwolf

strange… i am trying to re-create similar situation and i cant.

i mean if it works manually, then it means backup works… but also if it tasks starts it means task scheduler works.

only thing that comes to my mind is possibility that user under which backup is running from scheduler might not have all the rights - can you check to make sure that it should be running under same user as you?

steiale

It does already. I start tasks as Domain admin… It worked for soo long absolutely great!!
After the PA update I had to do all pbs files new and since then everything is screwed…

I hava also no idea…

spwolf

@steiale:

It does already. I start tasks as Domain admin… It worked for soo long absolutely great!!
After the PA update I had to do all pbs files new and since then everything is screwed…

I hava also no idea…

this happened after you updated your PA? I mean you updated your PA after you reported the issue ;-).

spwolf

if it started happening after an update to PA, try downgrading to older version of PA that worked fine? It does not make sense for it to work from explorer but not from scheduler, if it is PA related issue…

steiale

Can’t you do your own scheduler… :-) Had some time ago also problems with the windows scheduler…

steiale

OK… today something very stange happened… As always scheduler did start the PA. Stuck. Now I think I know why. It seems that in lates PA there is a problem with the path or something. Whenever I start pbs from PA now it says: The system cannot finde the specified file. Very strange. I try another path to the pbs files… Maybe that works…

steiale

OK… Didn’t work either… I am pretty sure it is something with PA. Other scheduled tasks work great. I use Windows 2008 Sp2… Maybe there is an issue with that.??

guido

could you add admin rights to the scheduled task?

guido

I had this problem when I tried to backup stuff from the program files folder. PA needed admin rights

steiale

Yes I did. Task is running as domain admin.

steiale

Did a complete uninstall. Installed latest version. Configured everything new.

Still not working. Like always. Task is starting and then… nothing happens…

spwolf

sometimes admin does have access to all the files, thats certainly the case in vista (if files are owned by another user, and win server 2008 is based on vista).

Why dont you create simple pbs that compresses 1.txt file from C:\1\ folder for instance

and try running that through scheduler. See if that works.

steiale

Tried and didn’t work. Event tried another scheduler (VisualCron). Same behavior. Task starts and nothing happens…

spwolf

@steiale:

Tried and didn’t work. Event tried another scheduler (VisualCron). Same behavior. Task starts and nothing happens…

well thats crazy ;-)

can you send us one of those pbs scripts, zipped to support @ conexware . com, and we will try it here.

steiale

Mail is out…

spwolf

@steiale:

Mail is out…

works here of course ;-).

steiale

So what is the right command to put in scheduler

something like pabackup.exe /silent /…/blabla.pbs

right?

spwolf

simply selecting an pbs file will work, without any refference to pabackup - thats the same way it works when you click on pbs in explorer.

What backup does is calls pabackup.exe with /silent switch (if so set).

However thing to note there is that you have to put “” around any long paths or else you will be getting that error (cant find script) that you are getting… so it should be:

“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABACKUP.EXE” /silent “C:\Users\user\Documents\Backups\Scripts\test.pbs”

spwolf

thats what you can run from cmd line…

steiale

ok… I guess we are coming more near.

When I doubleclick a pbs a window flashes up, closes immediately and the pbs file looks like this…

[General]
Archive=.zipx
TimeStamp=0
TimeStampText=
TimeStampMode=0
ScanArchive=0
Overwritef=0
AddQueue=0
AddLocal=0
AddLocal2=0
AddLocal3=0
LocalDir2=
LocalDir3=
IncludeSubFolders=0
IncHidden=0
Compression=0
CompressionM=0
Action=0
RelativeFolderInfo=0
ShowDone=0
RunSilent=0
RunSilentMode=0
GrowZip=0
UseOptimized=0
AddArchiveBit=0
AddSolid=0
WriteD=0
ResetArchive=0
UseSpanning=0
CSpanSize=
TestArchive=0
LogToFile=0
LogFile=
EmailLog=0
Encmode=0
Hidepassword=0

[FileTime]
FTMode=0
FTDays=0
FTHours=0
FTMinutes=0
FTDate=0
[FileSize]
FSMode=0
FSSize=0
FSSizeMode=0
[Schedule]
Mode=0
Time=0
Days=

[CD]
BurnArchive=0

FtpArchive=0
FtpLimit=
Directory=

eMailArchive=0
Smtp=
Port=
To=
From=
Text=

Subject=

–--------------------

ALL settings are deleted…!!

spwolf

so now doubleclicking on pbs does not work either? :-).

Maybe we should try everything from the start, to see what actually works or not, because it has been rollercoaster ride ;-)

steiale

Doubleclicking did never work.

Only thing worked is starting the pbs file from within the PA app. Doing my backups now like this.
Open PA, klick on pbs and then click on run. Works perfectly…!!

spwolf

@steiale:

Doubleclicking did never work.

Only thing worked is starting the pbs file from within the PA app. Doing my backups now like this.
Open PA, klick on pbs and then click on run. Works perfectly…!!

thats very different ;-).

do you have different versions of PA installed?

spwolf

its getting clearer now - when you say it works from inside PA, you mean via backup list, right?

steiale

As I said some posts above I did a complete uninstall and reinstall. So only one version installed.

Yes via backup list…

spwolf

well PBS files dont seem to be properly registered with windows explorer. There are several possible reasons for this.

Did you try cmd line i suggested before? Did that work?

“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABACKUP.EXE” /silent “C:\Users\user\Documents\Backups\Scripts\test. pbs”

just replace it to proper path to your files.

spwolf

(when you click on run on backup script in backup window, that is what PA does, it runs shell execute command, which is basically same thing as command line prompt).

steiale

Using in cmd seems to work now…

spwolf

@steiale:

Using in cmd seems to work now…

it has to work, reason it didnt work was because of long paths and you probably did not use “”… but i figured that out before, problem was that I thought that you wrote how you tried it from explorer and it works :-)

anyway, now schedule an task using the same thing… it HAS to work… I will not accept no for an answer ;-)

steiale

Ok… This is going to be hard for you…

I swear when I use exactly the same string as working on my cmd it does not work in scheduler…!!

steiale

Another strange thing…

When is go to browse for PA in the scheduler it says that the path to the pbs file is not valid… But I changed the pbs files already to c:\PAscripts… How short can that be…

spwolf

@steiale:

Another strange thing…

When is go to browse for PA in the scheduler it says that the path to the pbs file is not valid… But I changed the pbs files already to c:\PAscripts… How short can that be…

can you browse to it? not write it in but browse to it…

steiale

ok… Back after one week of illness…

Still doesn’t work. Sure I can browse to it…

Any new idea?

steiale

A small step further…
I made the file association between pbs files and PA again and now at least a double click on pbs file starts PA correctly and files are backuped.

But start from scheduler still doesn’t work. PA gets started and does nothing.

spwolf

@steiale:

A small step further…
I made the file association between pbs files and PA again and now at least a double click on pbs file starts PA correctly and files are backuped.

But start from scheduler still doesn’t work. PA gets started and does nothing.

check your task, make sure that backup it is starting is the right backup (that it points to proper file).

spwolf

it should be something like this:

“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABACKUP.EXE” /silent “C:\Users\user\Documents\Backups\Scripts\test. pbs”

steiale

It does… :-(

spwolf

try manually that in command prompt now

steiale

That worked as we checked already…

steiale

can we do this by chat or something? Would be faster. R U in skype or something?

steiale

OK next step I tried.

Wrote a batch. Thought if I can’t schedule the pbs maybe I can schedule a batch that starts the pbs.

–-------
@echo off
start “Sedi Backup” /MIN “C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABackup.exe” “/silent C:\PAscripts\sedi.pbs”
:end

Ends up in an oleaut32.dll access violation. Does that help?

spwolf

I did not catch those newer responses to the thread, this is what the command line is:
“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABACKUP.EXE” /silent “C:\Users\user\Documents\Backups\Scripts\test. pbs”

If that works, then it works in batch file if you properly enter it.

steiale

Hey there… Can we get this thing working again please? I do backups manually every day now.

DoubleClick on pbs file starts backup properly. Still no chance at all to get it run in scheduler. Can we do this b telephone or remote whatsoever.

I want my scheduled backup to work again please…!!

spwolf

@spwolf:

I did not catch those newer responses to the thread, this is what the command line is:
“C:\Program Files\PowerArchiver\PABACKUP.EXE” /silent “C:\Users\user\Documents\Backups\Scripts\test. pbs”

If that works, then it works in batch file if you properly enter it.

did you try above?

steiale

I did… This does work. Starts PAbackup and starts to backup…

When I use the exact same in Scheduler pa starts but doesn’t backup… :-(

spwolf

@steiale:

I did… This does work. Starts PAbackup and starts to backup…

When I use the exact same in Scheduler pa starts but doesn’t backup… :-(

well what happens when PA starts but does not backup?

did you try scheduling .bat file which works? Maybe that could be workaround… It still seems like something with permissions, because only difference between your running it like that and scheduler running it with same command, is the user that starts the process.

steiale

I use it with the same useraccout, domain administrator. I am telling in scheduler to run even if not logged on. Givin my user and pw of the domain admin.

Batch file doesn’t work either. Quits with an dll error.

steiale

P.S. It starts the task doing nothing just using 4.4 mb ram.

spwolf

@steiale:

I use it with the same useraccout, domain administrator. I am telling in scheduler to run even if not logged on. Givin my user and pw of the domain admin.

Batch file doesn’t work either. Quits with an dll error.

what dll error do you get? I need to check if tasks could be exported so you can send us task and we can see how it is scheduled.

steiale

Dll error see post 59…

Tell me what I can do and I will do…

steiale

Seems that it can be exportet… :)

Is an xml file which i gave the txt ending…
attachment_p_21476_0_nowijan-backup.txt

steiale

any news?? :)

spwolf

@steiale:

any news?? :)

i will be testing today and let you know what happens @ our computers with that script…

steiale

Great!! Thank you very much…!!

spwolf

Can you check option “Run only when user is logged on” and let me know what happens then?

steiale

Ok we are getting close to it…

When I run it with user logged on option it fails with the following error: Task Scheduler failed to start “\nowijan.pbs” task for user “ritfs\Administrator”. Additional Data: Error Value: 2147943645.

Somehow the local admin machine account does not work.
But when I change the account info to domain admin account and the option user logged on the backup starts as normally.
Option run logged on or not with domain account does start the pabackup but the does nothing further. Behaves like dead.

spwolf

@steiale:

But when I change the account info to domain admin account and the option user logged on the backup starts as normally.
Option run logged on or not with domain account does start the pabackup but the does nothing further. Behaves like dead.

what account do you use to work on that computer?

steiale

Domain admin

spwolf

@steiale:

Domain admin

and what about other software that runs there - they use same domain admin account or local account?

steiale

Yes they do… I do everthing on this machine in domain admin account.

spwolf

ok, lets try this - schedule new task manually through task scheduler and just pick pbs file that you want to schedule (so not pabackup.exe but .pbs). What happens then?

steiale

Tried already… but tried it again…

EXACTLY the same behavior. User logged on runs great.
User not logged on dead task…

spwolf

@steiale:

Tried already… but tried it again…

EXACTLY the same behavior. User logged on runs great.
User not logged on dead task…

wait - so it runs completly fine with option user logged in?

steiale

Yes. Like it did before.

Option: Run only when user logged on - runs
Option: Run whether user is logged on or not - doesn’t run

spwolf

@steiale:

Yes. Like it did before.

Option: Run only when user logged on - runs
Option: Run whether user is logged on or not - doesn’t run

so task scheduler cant schedule task unless user is logged on, that means something is wrong with task schedulers starting tasks as another user. I guess we need to google for solutions. I wonder if it might be some service that is disabled.

steiale

I will try something different. I hope I know where the problem is. I had a change in die admin password. I think the tasks stores the passwords locally. I guess task scheduler has a bug when passwords are changing.

So I will create a new backup user and create the jobs again. Hopefully that works…

steiale

Ok. Here we go again.
New User, completely new jobs, PAB starts… Does nothing…

Going mad…!!

steiale

Ok… things are getting worse and worse.
Now the pbs files will be emptied when they don’t run correctly.
So for every test I have to create new pbs files.

Any further help?

spwolf

@steiale:

Ok… things are getting worse and worse.
Now the pbs files will be emptied when they don’t run correctly.
So for every test I have to create new pbs files.

Any further help?

dont know what else… we could try having an special debug version of PowerArchiver Backup so we can go step by step and determine what could be the issue?

steiale

ok… so lets try this… if its helps you…
I thought I’d be clever and leave the user logged on.
PA Backup error message…
Access violation at address 77A58F1A in module oleaut32.dll. Read of address 0000047C

steiale

OK… Tried on another server. Same issue. Seems to me that the scheduler functionality is broken. PAB starts does nothing…
Please send me asap the debug version.

spwolf

@steiale:

OK… Tried on another server. Same issue. Seems to me that the scheduler functionality is broken. PAB starts does nothing…
Please send me asap the debug version.

i have spent an hour on Win2k3 Server trying to reproduce this…

How was PowerArchiver installed on the server? There has to be something specific in the way you are using something, as on whatever computer we try, it works fine. There has to be an reason.

Debug version can be ready within 10-15 days and it is quite pain to setup, there is no easy solution for that.

spwolf

We had one german customer with similar complaint - it turned out permissions issue - it could not access remote drive when run from isolated account, but local folders worked fine… I am sure you tried compressing to local drives as we said before?

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