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My question is two part: (1)Must pcbackup115.exe reside in the same directory that hosts the PowerChurch files or can it be copied and run from anywhere which has the necessary runtime files?
(2)Are there any insights/tips regarding the inability of Task Scheduler to create a backup copy given the following setup:
PowerChurch resides on a sever running Business Server 2008 and is accessed via a mapped drive R:\PowerChurch. PowerChurch Sytems Backup Options are configured to store the backup on my PC at C:\PowerChurch\Backups. The Task Scheduler is triggered to run pcbackup115.exe 30 minutes after I login to insure that all the login scripts have completed. Task Scheduler queues and executes the backup app as anticipated and returns a "completed satisfactorally" status. However, no ZIP backup file is created on the C:\ drive nor is there any entry created in the pcbackup log. If I go the the R:\ drive and manually run pcbackup115, a file is created and stored in the proper location and the pcbackup log is properly noted. Any ideas? Thanks.

MikeKeller wrote:My question is two part: (1)Must pcbackup115.exe reside in the same directory that hosts the PowerChurch files or can it be copied and run from anywhere which has the necessary runtime files?
(2)Are there any insights/tips regarding the inability of Task Scheduler to create a backup copy given the following setup:
PowerChurch resides on a sever running Business Server 2008 and is accessed via a mapped drive R:\PowerChurch. PowerChurch Sytems Backup Options are configured to store the backup on my PC at C:\PowerChurch\Backups. The Task Scheduler is triggered to run pcbackup115.exe 30 minutes after I login to insure that all the login scripts have completed. Task Scheduler queues and executes the backup app as anticipated and returns a "completed satisfactorally" status. However, no ZIP backup file is created on the C:\ drive nor is there any entry created in the pcbackup log. If I go the the R:\ drive and manually run pcbackup115, a file is created and stored in the proper location and the pcbackup log is properly noted. Any ideas? Thanks.

Mike,

is the task scheduler setup to run the program from the R:\powerchurch\pcplus115\ directory. Since you can run it manually, It should run fine on the schedule as long as you have the scheduler setup to use your login credentials.

That said, if you have a shared drive on your desktop computer, you could have the scheduler on the server do the backup and dump the file on your machine at 3am in the morning.

Neil.. Yes, the scheduler's action is to start R:\PowerChurch\pcbackup.exe and I have provided the necessary credentials. Even though the scheduler says it completed normally, I can find no trace of the backup zip anywere on the network including my PC-- except when I run it manually. Ultimately, I want the server to schedule and run the process but I wanted to test the execution and process before moved it from my PC's control. Mike

MikeKeller wrote:Neil.. Yes, the scheduler's action is to start R:\PowerChurch\pcbackup.exe and I have provided the necessary credentials. Even though the scheduler says it completed normally, I can find no trace of the backup zip anywere on the network including my PC-- except when I run it manually. Ultimately, I want the server to schedule and run the process but I wanted to test the execution and process before moved it from my PC's control. Mike

Mike ..

test it from the server, that's where its going to run. Log on as the admin and run it.

When you specify the "action" of running pcbackup115.exe, try setting the Start In path. The Start In will be the same path R:\PowerChurch\

Thanks for the suggestions. Will try them both and let you know how/if they work out. Mike

I have looked and do not see a sticky or a Wiki on how to setup the automated backup using the windows task scheduler, can someone point me to that page please? Thanks! I am sure it is hiding in plain sight.

red3recon wrote:I have looked and do not see a sticky or a Wiki on how to setup the automated backup using the windows task scheduler, can someone point me to that page please? Thanks! I am sure it is hiding in plain sight.

Which version of Powerchurch are you using ?? The automated backup was added in v11.x

That said, the information for setting this up can be found in the Powerchurch program help, under the System Management -> Backing Up Files -> Automated Backups help topic.

Here is the text of that HELP topic:

The external backup utility creates automated backups if it is added to Windows Scheduled Tasks. This creates an All Data Files & Pictures backup on a scheduled basis, which is stored in a specified location on your network or external drive.

Note: While it is possible to have the backups created in a folder on your local computer's hard drive, you would run the risk of losing the backups in the event of a hard drive failure!

The first step in activating this process is to configure the System Setup Options, which is covered in detail in the Backup topic.

Once the settings have been configured to your liking, the next step is to add the pcbackup115.exe program found in the PowerChurch Plus program directory to the Scheduled Tasks in Windows. Please refer to the documentation for your Windows version for more information on using Scheduled Tasks.

Just an update to my earlier post: Zorak's suggestion for completing the "Start In" location (pointing to the PowerChurch folder) proved to be the solution to our problem. We now have the backup running successfully on our server. Thanks for your help. Mike

I am having a similar problem. I have PowerChurch set to save backups to drive X:\. Drive X: is a Share on another PC on our LAN. When I run pcbackup115.exe from DOS (on my PowerChurch server), it successfully creates the expected .ZIP file on the local machine and then moves it to drive X:\. The pcbackup.log file shows that the backup was created and successfully moved to drive X:\. I am logged in as user Staff.

I created a task to run pcbackup115.exe every weekday at 2am as user Staff. Per the Tash Scheduler History, I see that the task is successfully running pcbackup115.exe, as it should. Additionally, I see that the expected .ZIP file is being created a 2am every morning. However, the .ZIP file is not being moved to drive X:\. The pcbackup.log file indicates that the .ZIP file was created but the final entry states, "FAILED to copy file to X:\". I have tried running the task on demand with the same results.

I tried adding the proper path to the "Start in" field in the Actions for the task as was suggested by a previous poster, but this did not solve my problem.

Because the file will not copy across the network, it seems like this may be a credentials problem, yet I've set the task to run as the same user that I'm logged in as when I successfully run pcbackup115.exe from DOS. Both my server and the target are running Windows 7 Professional and both have had Windows Update run on them today so they should be totally up to date. I'm hoping someone might know what I'm doing wrong.

Instead of using drive X: to copy to. Use the UNC path the network share. it will look like \\computername\folderpath. Often a drive mapping is not available in the task schedule. The drive is mapped when your user logs in to your computer. In the task scheduler the program, a user is not really logged in so the drive mapping is not available.