Run scheduled bckup while logged off

[Guest]

Running Win2K Pro. Want to use the standard Windows 'Backup' utility to back
up a single Excel file nightly, that is located on a network share. I am
wanting to back the file up to a 'file' in a sub-folder called ‘Backup’
(within the network folder the original file itself is located in), so no
tape or other media.
The problem I am having is, if I am logged off as I do nightly(not shut down
of course), the scheduled backup runs but is unsuccessful, the log file shows
“The operation was not performed because the specified media cannot be
foundâ€. I suspect this is happening because the location of the file to be
backed up is on a network directory (as is the location where the backup file
should be created), and when I am logged off, my network drive mappings must
be disconnected, so the backup job, which still triggers even though I am not
logged into Windows, cannot find the file to backup. Is there any way to get
this to work while logged off? I work at a large corporation and am not part
of the IT team, so using a third party utility, or a hardware solution is not
an option. I just need to know if there is a way, from the end user
perspective, I can use Windows Backup to run a scheduled backup nightly while
logged off the PC.
Btw, the scheduled backup runs great when I am actually logged in, so I know
I have the backup task setup right, it just appears my network drive mappings
are disconnected when logged off, so the backup cannot find the file to back
up. My drive mappings are of course connected and fine when I log back into
Windows, though these drive mappings are not part of a logon script, I mapped
it (the one in question) myself. I thought the path is retained in my user
settings in some way, so when the backup task ran even while logged off,
thought it would still be able to read the path and find the file on the
network and perform the backup. Thanks in advance.

Mirth

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Running Win2K Pro. Want to use the standard Windows 'Backup' utility to back
up a single Excel file nightly, that is located on a network share. I am
wanting to back the file up to a 'file' in a sub-folder called 'Backup'
(within the network folder the original file itself is located in), so no
tape or other media.
The problem I am having is, if I am logged off as I do nightly(not shut down
of course), the scheduled backup runs but is unsuccessful, the log file shows
"The operation was not performed because the specified media cannot be
found". I suspect this is happening because the location of the file to be
backed up is on a network directory (as is the location where the backup file
should be created), and when I am logged off, my network drive mappings must
be disconnected, so the backup job, which still triggers even though I am not
logged into Windows, cannot find the file to backup. Is there any way to get
this to work while logged off? I work at a large corporation and am not part
of the IT team, so using a third party utility, or a hardware solution is not
an option. I just need to know if there is a way, from the end user
perspective, I can use Windows Backup to run a scheduled backup nightly while
logged off the PC.
Btw, the scheduled backup runs great when I am actually logged in, so I know
I have the backup task setup right, it just appears my network drive mappings
are disconnected when logged off, so the backup cannot find the file to back
up. My drive mappings are of course connected and fine when I log back into
Windows, though these drive mappings are not part of a logon script, I mapped
it (the one in question) myself. I thought the path is retained in my user
settings in some way, so when the backup task ran even while logged off,
thought it would still be able to read the path and find the file on the
network and perform the backup. Thanks in advance.

Mirth

A few comments:
- Your suspicion is probably correct: your backup job runs most likely
under the "System" account, which has no access to networked resources.
- The problem is easily avoided by using the Task Scheduler to run the
backup job. It lets you specify the account to be used.
- It seems you're making life unnecessarily difficult for yourself by using
ntbackup.exe to back up a single file. The xcopy command would be
far easier to use, and is perfectly adequate for this job:

@echo off
xcopy "d:\My Documents\SomeFile.xls" \\SomeServer\SomeShare\SomeFolder\"

 

[Guest]

Thnx for the assistance Pegasus, its greatly appreciated. One or 2 questions
though. Since you included the cmd 'echo off' I assume you were suggesting
putting this script in like Autoexec.bat or something? If that were the case,
then the XCOPY cmd would only occur when booting the PC up each day, which we
don't do here, we only "log off' each night. Was I following you correctly,
or is there another way to utilize the XCOPY script you suggest, that I am
missing, that will automatically backup the file in question without
interaction?
Also, I am trying to see how Task Scheduler can do the job instead, as you
suggest, but am having a problem. I opened the Properties for Task Scheduler
service, went to the 'Log on' tab and tried to change the 'Log on as' to
'This account' and specified my own domain account. I have to stop and
restart the service after making the change, but when restarting I get msg.
"Error 6200: The Task Scheduler service must be configured to run in the
System Account to function properly. Individual tasks may be configured to
run in other accounts". Within the actual ‘Windows Backup’ application
itself, I have the ‘Run as:’ set to my domain account as well, for the backup
task. Any suggestions on how to set up Task Scheduler to run the job using a
specific account as opposed to the System account? Thanks once again, I am in
you debt.

Mirth

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Thnx for the assistance Pegasus, its greatly appreciated. One or 2 questions
though. Since you included the cmd 'echo off' I assume you were suggesting
putting this script in like Autoexec.bat or something?

You are more or less correct: I'm putting the command into a
batch file.

If that were the case,
then the XCOPY cmd would only occur when booting the PC up each day, which we
don't do here, we only "log off' each night.

Not at all. You use the Task Scheduler (Control Panel) to schedule
this batch file to run at the time you desire and under the account you
desire.

Was I following you correctly,
or is there another way to utilize the XCOPY script you suggest, that I am
missing, that will automatically backup the file in question without
interaction?
Also, I am trying to see how Task Scheduler can do the job instead, as you
suggest, but am having a problem. I opened the Properties for Task Scheduler
service, went to the 'Log on' tab and tried to change the 'Log on as' to
'This account' and specified my own domain account. I have to stop and
restart the service after making the change, but when restarting I get msg.
"Error 6200: The Task Scheduler service must be configured to run in the
System Account to function properly. Individual tasks may be configured to
run in other accounts".

You went off at a tangent. Leave the service account as "system",
but start off with the most obvious: "Schedule a new task".

Within the actual 'Windows Backup' application
itself, I have the 'Run as:' set to my domain account as well, for the backup
task. Any suggestions on how to set up Task Scheduler to run the job using a
specific account as opposed to the System account? Thanks once again, I am in
you debt.

You get prompted for an account name while scheduling the task.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the assistance Pegasus, it's working great now just as you
recommended.
Actually, I had finally figured out how to get the Windows 'Backup' job to
run successfully while logged off as well. When setting up the backup job, on
the screen where you browse through your drives\folders to reach and select
the file to back up, I was selecting one of my mapped drives and browsing to
the location of the file to be backed up (i.e.
‘E:\someshare..etc..\file.xls’). But the backup would always fail. What I had
to do was, during the Backup setup when browsing through the drives\folders
to reach and select the file to backup, instead of browsing through a mapped
drive (i.e. ‘E:\’), I had to browse through 'My Network Place\Entire
Network\Microsoft Windows Network\somesrv\...file.xls'. This finally worked,
so for some reason, I just could not use a mapped drive when specifying the
path to the file to back up because it wouldn’t work while logged off.
Incidentally, you convinced me that just using the ‘xcopy’ in a .bat file
was not only easier, but far better… while the ntbackup.exe created an actual
‘Backup’ file that has to be ‘Restored’ through the use of ntbackup.exe once
again, your suggestion actually just made a COPY of the original…, much
better for my circumstances since we were only backing up one relatively
small file.
Anyway, sorry so long winded, just thought I’d explain it all out in the
unlikely event this information may help someone else. Thanks again man, best
of luck to you.

Mirth