VersionBackup - FAQ List: Function

Frequently Asked Questions about
Functions and Functional Problems

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Issue: 2013-03-17

The automatic copy run does not start.

When the computer has been shut down with VersionBackup, it does not switch off.

After a new installation or if the registry is lost, the Backup Browser does not display anything at all. How do I get access to my backups again?

I configured a certain date for the Full Backup, but the Full Backup run happens on the next day.

I configured a certain date for the Full Backup, but at first, no Full Backup run was done at all. Some days later, a Full Backup was created.

It is not possible to save my Outlook©- or data base files. The copy log shows the entry "Access Error".

The backup creation "At any log out or shut down" does not work with Windows 7© or Windows 8©.

The automatic copy run does not start.

The copy run will start automatically, only if there is a VersionBackup start link in the AutoStart folder.
This start link is created automatically during the installation. Maybe, it is no more present on your system.

To check it, please click on 'Start' in the lower left corner of the screen. Open 'Programs' and 'AutoStart'. Right-click on the entry 'VersionBackup', choose 'Properties' and select the page 'Shortcut'. The entry in the edit line 'Target' must be '...\VersionBackup.exe /w', where ... is your VersionBackup installation folder.

If the link is not present in this form, you can restore it most easily if you repeat running the installation file.
Or else, you create the link manually. If you do this, please take care that the parameter '/w' is defined correctly. The result of this parameter is the special behavior at the Windows© startup.

When the computer has been shut down with VersionBackup, it does not switch off.

The switch-off behavior is not the same on all computers. Possibly, a special setting is necessary on your computer.

Some background information: If an application intends to shut down the computer, it sends a certain command to the operating system. There are two different commands, one for "Shut Down" and one for "Shut Down and Switch Off". Some computers run into an error state, if "Shut Down and Switch Off" has been sent (This behavior is a consequence of the hardware or the bios. It can not be influenced by VersionBackup). On the other hand, most of the computers switch off correctly, if only the "Shut Down" command has been sent. Therefore, VersionBackup usually sends the "Shut Down" command.

Your computer may need the other command "Shut Down and Switch Off". You can configure this with a small change in the registry.
- Please launch the Registry Editor (e.g. "Start" "Execute", then enter "Regedit" in the command line and "OK").
- Please choose the path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / SB-AW / VersionBackup / Settings
- There, you will find the entry "DoShutdownAsPowerOff". Double click on this entry and set the value to 1.
Then, your computer should switch off after the VersionBackup induced shutdown.

If it does not work even after the Registry change, your computer seems to be unable to execute the shutdown commands correctly.
In this case you must do without the VersionBackup shutdown functionality. Then, you should avoid the setting "At any log out or shut down" and you should not switch the shut down functions "After the Automatic Backup Generation" on.
You can deactivate the shutdown function generally by setting the Registry Value "ShutdownForbidden" to 1. (To do this, see also the VersionBackup Help chapter "Hints for Experts" - "Shut Down After Backup Creation").

After a new installation or if the registry is lost, the Backup Browser does not display anything at all. How do I get access to my backups again?

VersionBackup stores its configuration in the registry. Therefore, it is not able to find its stored backups, when the registry has been newly created.
Of course, you can access your backups even without VersionBackup. But this is uncomfortable and it is not necessary to proceed this way. You should provide the backup location information to the Backup Browser, instead:

Enter the original Source Paths and Dest Paths again. Then, the original configuration is present and the old backups will be found by the Backup Browser.
The input of the Source Path is not relevant to find the old backups. The Destination Paths, where the backups are located now, is the important information. If you like, you can delete the paths later. Nevertheless, VersionBackup will remember the Destination Paths for further assess.

If you additionally saved your configuration in a file, restoring the configuration is much easier: You only have to load the configuration file to restore all settings to their original state.

I configured a certain date for the Full Backup, but the Full Backup run happens on the next day.

If you specify a Full Backup date, this does not mean to create a Full Backup sometimes on this day. It means to fix the final state of that day shall be saved in a Full Backup.
If on the page "Scheduling/Start" - "Dating Back" the Dating Back is switched on, VersionBackup is configured to create the Full Backup on the morning of the following day.

Example: If July 7 is set as Full Backup date and the Dating Back is switched on, then VersionBackup will copy the data in the morning of July 8. But they will be stored with the backup date July 7.

I configured a certain date for the Full Backup, but at first, no Full Backup run was done at all. Some days later, a Full Backup was created.

Probably, in the dialog "Full Backups" you chose the setting "When it’s a turn of a Full Backup, do it now, only if at least one file has been changed".
This setting may postpone a Full Backup until the next file change is done in this Source Path. This makes sense, if there are changes only from time to time. It prevents the system from creating subsequent identical Full Backups.

If it is really required to get the Full Backup exactly for the configured date, please choose the alternative option "do it now, even if there is no changed file at all".

There are some applications locking their files against any foreign access. Among them is also Outlook© and some data base systems.
Locked files cannot be copied by a file based backup system like VersionBackup because the operating system rejects each access to these files.

How can this problem be solved?
If the computer is shut down each night, it will help to launch the blocking application not before VersionBackup has created the backup copies.
Another solution will be to run VersionBackup from a script. It should shut down the blocking application, start the VersionBackup copy run (calling the application VBackRun.exe) and then restart the blocking application. The script can be started with the Windows© scheduler e.g.

Fortunately, most applications do not block their files. A Word© file, for example, can be without any problem, even if you are working on that file at that moment.

Windows Vista©, Windows 7© und Windows 8© include some means to accelerate the system shutdown. One of them prevents blocking the shutdown if an application intends to do this for a longer time.
But VersionBackup has to do exactly this: if the operating system intends to shutdown the computer, VersionBackup must inhibit this to create the backups first (which can last some time). After this, VersionBackup starts the shutdown process again.
Inhibiting the shutdown is no more possible under the newer Windows© issues (not without operating system messages, which must be responded with "Cancel", which would be very confusing).

The solution must be requesting the shutdown in a different way, not regularly making Windows© do it rapidly.
During the VersionBackup installation with Vista©, Windows 7© or Windows 8©, an additional icon "VB Shutdown" will be installed on the desktop. This will start the process "Shutdown with backup creation". Then, you should shutdown the computer with a double click on this icon, if the backup creation is desired.
If the computer is shut dows in a different way in spite of "Backup at Shutdown" has been set, the copy run will be done at next start up.

If you are using an older VersionBackup issue, which does not provide this feature, please do the following: Start the backup creation with the checkbox "After the backup creation ... Shut down" activated. This will also start the desired action: the backups will be created and after this, the computer will be shut down.