the scheduler does not work ! ! !

If you updated from an earlier version of ATI you might have the same problem as me.

119562: Scheduled task not starting automatically anymore

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/119562

regards

Since updating from build 6569 to build 6571 on my MS Surface, my weekly scheduled task doesn't start. I have to use the green Back up now button.The screen shows last week's backup date (from manually starting backup) and the next backup date is the following week. There is no backup file created in my backup folder and as Acronis no longer has a log file, I have no idea if it tried to backup and failed or never started. In advanced settings I have Prevent computer from going to sleep, Run at system startup and Run when current device is attached. (The Surface doesn't have the Allow wake timer setting describe in https://kb.acronis.com/content/54530.)

I also have a new Dell desktop computer with a first-time installation of the same build that also fails to start. Both computers are Windows 10.

On my other computers, also Windows 10 I use Acronis 2014 - the last good version of Acronis. It has a simple screen listing all backups with most of their setting (such as scheduling), a logical sequence to create tasks, and a log file to know what's going on. Acronis 2015 and 2016 are a huge step backwards and I only use them because I paid for them.

Ray, please download a copy of the Log File Viewer app from the forum - this will help you to look at the log files for your scheduled / manual backup tasks to see what errors are being reported, if any.

As per the other forum post that user catweazle referenced, it may be necessary to do a clean install to repair this problem, but lets see what the logs show before going that far.

There is also another utility, the Acronis Scheduler Manager that you can use to clean out any scheduled entries that may be contributing to this issue.  You can issue the Get list command to get a listing of all scheduled tasks, and then either delete a single task, or use task zap to delete all tasks from the scheduler.  They will get added back when you next click on the Backup now button  for tasks that have schedule information configured.

Please note that ATIH 2014 is not officially supported for use with Windows 10 even though you may be using it with the same.  Only ATIH 2015 and 2016 or above have been tested for use with Windows 10.
See KB document: 56196: Acronis Products: Windows 10 Support

I downloaded and ran the Log File Viewer on my Surface. There's only one log entry for today which is for my manually run backup. There's no indication that Acronis attempted to run a scheduled backup. The same for last week. So I'd conclude that the scheduler failed.

Note too that on the Dell computer, Acronis is a clean install as it's a new computer. So I don't think it's an installation issue nor a Scheduler conflict with prior scheduled tasks as this is the first task I scheduled.

I downloaded the Acronis Scheduler Manager but will have to study how to run it.

When is your schedule task set to run?  Is the computer online at that time, or sleeping, hibernating, or powered off?  

There are settings to run a backup right after boot if a scheduled task is missed - see attached screenshot and if you don't have yours configured similarly, set them to the same as the screenshot.  The 3 minute delay at startup helps ensure that all services are fully up and running after the system starts (the default is 0 minutes, but if your computer services are not fully loaded, may not work correctly so a small delay can be helpful there).  

I would create a new backup task as a test and set it to run a scheduled task in 30 minutes from the current time.  Right after that, run the first backup manually and let it complete. If that backup takes less than 30 minutes to complete, you should see the next backup run at that 30 minute mark.  If the first backup takes more than 30 minutes, then the scheduled task should run after the first one completes.

I ran the Acronis Scheduler Manager and it listed information on about 10 tasks but I have no idea which task is which so it wasn't of any help. I create a weekly task for each month. When I create a new month's task I unschedule the previous month's. (In Acronis 2014 it's easy to view all the tasks and see their schedule, last run, size, etc. Plus I can sort the tasks. In 2016 I have to view each individually and drill down to see the same information.)

My weekly backup has always been scheduled to run Sunday at 6:00am. Both the Surface and Dell are powered off and the advanced settings are as shown in your capture.png except that the delay time is 0. When powered up after 6:00am I'd expect Acronis to run the BU as have all prior versions of Acronis including my 2014 installed on 3 other computers.

I created a new task as you suggested on my Surface with a delay of 3 minutes to backup a small folder. Acronis 2016 can't be set to BU every 15 minutes. The shortest I can do is once per hour from the dropdown menu. Start time isn't available; it defaults from the time the task is created. (Why does Acronis keep reducing function???) I ran the manual backup then let it go to sleep. With the previous build I had to power off the Surface then reboot; awakening it from a timed-out power down state never worked, even with Acronis 2014. After an hour I'll awaken it but expect that I'll have to power off then on again. This too may fail if it doesn't actually schedule the next BU time.

Thanks for your help.

At 4:40pm, I awoke the Surface. Acronis was still open and said the last BU was at 3:11pm and the next BU was scheduled for 4:11pm. It hadn't run.

I powered the Surface down and restarted it. After 5 minute I opened Acronis and the BU had run at 4:46pm with a next BU time of 5:11 pm. I ran Log File Viewer and there are two entries; one for my manual BU at 3:11 and a second for the scheduled backup that didn't run until I rebooted at 4:46.

I put the surface to sleep, woke it up at 5:14 and the data was unchanged; last BU at 4:46pm with a next BU time of 5:11 pm. I waited 5 minutes but no BU was created. I powered off then rebooted at 5:22. At 5:25 it created a 3rd BU. Reboot is still required on my Surface; even back to Acronis 2014.

So I'd conclude that a delay is needed and that this is a bug in build 6571. Build 6569 worked without the delay. (Do I need to tell Acronis about this? If so, how?)

I don't think it's the delay.  I think it's running the "missed' backup after reboot because you have the option to do so after shudown enabled.  Since Win10 uses fastboot/fast startup by default (hibernation), when you "shudown" it never actually shutsdown, and instead, goes into hibernation.  Upon waking from hibernation, there is no trigger to run the missed backup at startup since it didn't actually startup.  Rebooting, forces a full shutdown and then that item kicks in. 

So, the question is, why is Acronis unable to wake the sytem to run the task.  Take a look at this page:  http://www.howtogeek.com/122954/how-to-prevent-your-computer-from-wakin…

Do you have wake timers enabled?  If not, they need to be.  https://kb.acronis.com/content/54530

Is the Acronis schedule manager service running in computer management >>> services?  If not, it needs to be.

The screen shot list in the howtogeek page matches my desktop computer's but not my Microsoft Surface 3. For Balanced, the Surfaces' submenu under Sleep only has "Hibernate after." There isn't any Allow wake timers. I believe the Acronis Scheduler is running. (See attachments.)

Ray, just curious, but how do you normally put the Surface Pro to sleep - let it sleep on it's own, or with the type-cover?  I'm reading up on "instantgo" and am wondering if that is a unique sleep state for the Surface Pro's that does not respond well to waketimers.

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/hardware-and-drivers/su…

I am also wondering if the system cannot be resumed from hibernation with a scheduled task, like it can from sleep.  Sleep still leaves the system in a low power state and can be woken with scheduled tasks and a simple keyboard or mouse click. Hibernation though, does it wake up from it simply by opening the type cover or pressing any button on the type-pad, or only when you quickly press the power or windows button?

I have a Surface 3 that originally came with Windows 8.1 that I upgraded to Windows 10. I normally use 3 methods: let it time out, close the typecover, or press the power button on the top. It appears to actually power off after a while as I get the "Surface" text followed by Windows log in screen about 15 seconds later. Even if I get the "Surface" text, the backup won't start. I have to login, use the Windows button and select either reboot or power off then power on again. It will then run the backup.

Even though you're only getting one log file per day, could you post the last few logs for review.  This could be a local VSS issue, might be related to fastboot and hibernation vs actual shutdown, or something else.  Hopefully the log files provide a litte more information.  You may also want to check your Windows "system" log for signs of trouble in computer management too.  I don't have a Surface Pro 3 to test on, but could be a number of different things.  The reboot/shutdown is triggering the backup option after shutdown, but we need to figure out why the scheduled tasks are not running and the more information in the logs we can see, the better chance of narrowing down the issue. 

My task isn't daily, it's once per week on Sunday. Steve Smith suggested I run the Log File Viewer on 6/19. I did and replied that day that there's no log file created when it fails. (I have no problems at all with my Surface other than with Acronis scheduled backups not running.)

I've been using Acronis for around 10 years and have reluctantly accepted it having lots of bugs that never get fixed. With Windows 8.1 and version 2014 on my Surface, it didn't backup when I woke up the computer. I had start with a bootup to initiate the backup. Acronis couldn't fix it so they gave me 2015. It didn't work either. So I purchased 2016 which was no different. When I updated from build 6569 to build 6571 even rebooting failed to start the backup.

I think that Acronis doesn't work with the Surface architecture and that build 6571 made it worse.

The specific hardware shouldnt' make any difference - it's the same OS running across different hardware that Acronis is installed on. Unfortunately, there are differences in drivers, software applications, etc.  There have to be some logs being generated though and if you could upload the last few, that may help provide some more incite.  Without the logs, it's reallly just a guessing game at this point.  

Attached is zip file with the weekly logs from 5/22/16. I've always had to start from booting up for Acronis to run it's scheduled backup. Some of these logs may be manually started with the Back up now button. From my records, I updated from build 6569 to 6571 on 6/3. I added the 3-minute delay as a test on 6/19 and as it was successful updated my weekly task.It's first run will be Sunday 6/26.

Logs don't show any errors.  However, the times do vary - were all of these run manually?

 task_name=2016_May
Start= 5/22/2016 6:00:02 AM
 

 task_name=2016_May
Start= 5/29/2016 7:33:46 AM
 

 task_name=2016 Jun
Start= 6/5/2016 6:36:37 AM
 

task_name=2016 Jun
Start= 6/12/2016 6:38:22 AM

Going back to your earlier post "I ran the Acronis Scheduler Manager and it listed information on about 10 tasks but I have no idea which task is which so it wasn't of any help."  Perhaps you do have ghost scheduled tasks that are causing the problem.  If you run the scheduler and "taskzap" it will delete all scheduled tasks and then you can go back in and edit your backup task and reschedule it - better yet, create a fresh one after that to start clean and see if that does the trick.  

If not, I'd still be inclined to think at fastbook / faststart may be part of the problem or something with the power settings themselves.  If the system is unable to wakeup automatically to run the task, that's one thing and I can't say why that would be.  As a test though, you could create a scheduled task to wake the system in Control Panel >>> administrative tools >>> task scheduler and see how that behaves.  If you can get it to wake the system at set times (like 2 minutes before you want you Acronis scheduled task to run) , that may be the work-a-round for you (use this to wake the system just before Acronsi would be scheduled to backup and hopefully it backs  up after that).  But, if you can't get it to wake up the system either, then you have something else going on where the system is just not waking up when directed too and that is preventing the backup from running at it's scheduled time.  

Additional food for thought...

With fastboot/faststart enabled, the "run at system startup with delay in x minutes" will never kick in until you do a reboot/restart.  A "shutdown" will only enter hibernation (that's how fastboot works) so when you turn the system on, it's really just coming out of hibernation and not triggering that a full shutdown occured.  You mention that rebooting starts a backup so this part is working by design as the "run at system startup with delay in x minutes" feature is kicking in when you reboot the sytem.

ALSO... if you have the option in that same area open, check to see if  "Run the backup only when the computer is idle" is selected and remove that if it is.  Steve Smith reported in other forums that when he had that enabled, the backup never ran either.  Basically, whatever is supposed to trigger the system is idle, is not kicking in, or something is happening in the background that keeps it from kicking in because the system really never is idle.  If you want a schedueld task to run at a specific time, don't use that option anyway since the goal is to let it backup at that time, regardless if the system is idle or not. Don't know if you have this option selected or not, but if you do, it may be the culprit. 

This morning my scheduled weekly Sunday backup should have run. I started my Surface by pressing the mechanical switch on the top left edge of the display. The screen showed "Surface" then the Windows 10 screen to which I logged in. I'd assume this is a boot up and not really a wake from sleep. 

Last week (6/19) I manually ran my backup because it again failed to run automatically. Attached is "Acronis start up" showing the Acronis processes that were running after starting my Surface 3. Next I've attached a screen shot "Task skipped" showing that the last task Acronis ran was 6/19 and that the next date scheduled date is next week, 7/3. It has skipped today's 6/26 backup! In the shot are the processes running with Acronis open and the backup files. Finally I ran the Read Log File and the last log is 6/19 that I've included in previous forum replies. This is what happens every week with build 6571; Acronis advances the next backup date a week with no record of having run this week.

To answer any question about other tasks conflicting, I ran the Acronis Schedule Manager with "get list" followed by "task zap" to delete all tasks; verified with another "get list." I then manually ran today's Jun back up and created a new back up task for July with the 3 minute delay. Attached is the Schedule Manager screen shot. I don't understand why it shows two tasks. I verified that Jun is unscheduled (apparently done when task zap was executed) and that Jul is scheduled. Anyway I'll find out what happens next week.

Ray, please open each of the two scripts named in your Scheduler Manager screen shot with a text editor such as Notepad and look at the task description for these.  You will find the scripts in the hidden C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts folder and you will need to match the cryptic names with those shown in the screen shot.

You may find that one of these is for your scheduled task and the other may be for a Verification task if you have configured this for the task.

They look similar to me. I'm attaching them for your comment. Maybe you'll see some reason that the backups fail to start.

I suspect that "AE6..." is from the manual back up I ran today for the June task. The "B2A..." is for the July task that  hasn't run yet.

Ray, you are correct as far as the task scripts are concerned:

<uuid>AE6D0E5C-A8EB-4E3E-B092-C31BB9150267</uuid> <display>2016 Jun</display>

<uuid>B2A845A6-063E-4817-AB4C-ED4ACD79ED46</uuid> <display>2016_Jul</display>

I rebooted my Surface this morning, logged in and waited 5 -minutes. The backup failed again. Attached is a screen shot showing the new task for July that didn't run today but is now scheduled for next week and it's settings. I have to  use the Backup now button to run it manually. 

Ray, 

A couple of suggestions / requests.

1.  Please try increasing the delay time for the Advanced Schedule, Run at system startup with delay from 3 minutes to say 10 minutes, and see if that makes any difference.  I am assuming that as you say you rebooted the Surface that Windows Fast Start is not involved in this issue.

2.  Please check the log files again for any that were created with today's date - I suggest looking via Windows Explorer in C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs folder and sort the view by date, then perhaps zip those with todays date and post them to the forum in this thread.

I increased the delay to 10 minutes so we'll see what happens isnext Sunday.

Attached are the logs from today and a few earlier ones. This morning I booted up the Surface a few minutes before 6:42 am. As backup failed to start, I manually started the July backup. The data file is time stamped 7/3 at 7:21 am. Last Sunday's final incremental backup of the June task is time stamped 6/26 at 9:48 am.

I ran Read_Log_File.exe which lists only one file for 7/3. It's my manual backup that started at 7:12 and successfully finished at 7:21. 

Ray, thanks for the zip file with the logs.  I don't see very much there apart from some messages in the Monitor log but it is difficult to tell how old these may be as the log obviously goes back a long way to when you had ATIH 2016 build 5634.

I would recommend deleting the Monitor.log file from C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs folder but you may need to end any active TrueImage programs via Windows Task Manager so you don't get any access denied messages in doing this.  ATIH will create a new log file when you restart it.

I renamed it to "monitor-old.log." It didn't get any access denied message when I did this. I started the Acronis program, looked at the Advances setting for my task then clicked OK. In the log folder it created two console entries but it didn't create a new log.

With the delay at 10 minutes nothing happened this morning either. I opened Acronis and as before it has the last backup last Sunday 7/3 when I ran it using the Back up now button. It skipped today and Next backup is next week 7/17. A new monitor.log was not created. I'm going to reboot and see it that makes any difference.

I rebooted and now there's a monitor.log which I've attached. There are errors. I then created a backup for today manually. Attached is the log file again after the backup completed. Acronis now says the next backup is scheduled for 7/17.

Ray, thanks for the monitor logs, they are both identical in content, but do show a worrying recurring error that, to me at least, suggests that the install or execution of ATIH is being restricted by your security software (antivirus, antimalware etc).

From the log file:

log uuid= ;  product=True Image;  version=19.0;  build=6571
Start= 10/07/2016 18:06:48
id=1;  level=1;  module=190;  code=16;  date/time=10/07/2016 18:06:48
          message=Error occurred while creating registry subkey.;  line_tag=0x8A55CEEE4A56536F
Error_Code=ARAAvgBvU1ZK7s5VikVycm9yIG9jY3Vycm....(shortened...)
id=2;  level=1;  module=0;  code=65520;  date/time=10/07/2016 18:06:48
          message=Access is denied;  line_tag=0xBD28FDBD64EDB8F4;  hide=1
id=3;  level=1;  module=172;  code=55;  date/time=10/07/2016 18:06:48
          message=The subkey cannot be found.;  line_tag=0x69C3FF830AD625F1
Error_Code=ATcArADxJdYKg//....(shortened...)

These errors are then repeated throughout the log file.

See KB document: 46430: Acronis Software: Making Acronis Products Compatible with Antivirus Software which may be helpful in 'white list' the Acronis programs in your security program(s).

The only security software installed is MS Defender. I've never installed any other. I went to the link to Acronis' 46430 and they don't list Defender and if it were the cause I think there'd be lots of comments on it. I Googled "acronis windows 10 defender" and didn't find much.

Remember the failure to backup started after I updated from build 6569 to 6571 on 6/3. Could it be a corrupted undate. I hate to uninstall and reinstall as it usually can't find and list all my tasks.

Ray, please see forum post: 122033: Need to reinstall - can I recreate tasks by copying back the scripts? where another user needed to do a clean uninstall / reinstall and followed my advice to safeguard all his backup tasks / settings etc.

I saved a copy of the Database and Scripts folders to my desktop, uninstalled Acronis using Windows, downloaded the uninstaller using your link. I ran it using option 2, answered 'n' to additional disks. I ignored the registry edits and let it reboot my system. In case my original download build 6571was corrupted, I downloaded a fresh copy, disabled Defender and installed it as Administrator.

Before running Acronis, I checked for Acronis Processes running and stopped two. I checked for Acronis services that were running, found 1 stopped with 3 running so I stopped the 3. I then moved my copied script files to the script folder and the database files to the database folder overwriting duplicates.

I rebooted, started Acronis, and entered my account info. It didn't ask for serial numbers. My list of tasks looks normal. Specifically I looked at my current Jul 2016 task and it has last backup 7/10 but no next backup was scheduled. The schedule tab had Do not backup selected. Advanced settings has only prevent from going asleep checked. So setting weren't restored. I set the task back to weekly backup at 6am Sunday and added checks for run at startup delay of 10 minutes and run when device is attached.

I closed Acronis, rebooted again and looked at Task Manager. Acronis has 5 processes running and 2 services. Sunday we'll see if the scheduled backup starts.

This morning my weekly task should have run. Instead and as before, it didn't. I opened Acronis and it skipped today, 7/17. It says Last backup 7/10/16 at 10:23 AM (late because I had to manually back up) and Next backup 7/24/16 at 6:00 AM. Removing Acronis, running CleanupTool_48_en-US.exe , and reinstalling it hasn't fixed the issue. The 10 minute delay didn't help either.

I looked in my  C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs folder and the monitor.log is dated 7/15 which is when I reinstalled Acronis so no log was created today. Log viewer lists 9 entries from 5/22 to 6/19. As the cleaner apparently deleted this folder these must have come from the new install. In the folder are two console-(bunch of alphanumerics).log entries with timestamps 7/17 at 8:00am and 8:09am.

Unless someone has other suggestions, I can either wait for the next build or reinstall the previous build 6569 that at least should run from a boot as it did before installing this build 6571.

For anyone reading this thread; Acronis 2014 didn't worked properly on my Surface 3 so I upgraded to 2015 and then to 2016. Automated backup has never worked properly. On my desktop computers with Windows 10, I use Acronis 2014. Although not supported is works great and its user interface is far superior. Compare them in the attached image showing 2016 and 2014. With 2014 I can see the status of all my tasks, create a new task quicker and it has log files to help solve issues. I've used Acronis for years. I wish they'd address usability and fix the persistent bugs.

Ray,

I didn't go back and re-read through all the threads, so apologize if this was already covered...

If the the machine is currently turned on and actively in use during the scheduled time, would it back up then?  Perhaps you could create a new and second task for testing with another scheduled task that is set to run this afternoon while the machine is currently and actively running and see if it runs on the schedule or not. Here's why I'd like you to test this more...

Earlier, you mentioned the system is sleeping/hibernating at 6AM which is when the scheduled task is supposed to ru.  Your advanced settings screenshot does show that it is set for "run at the system startup with delay (in minutes" as set to 3 delayed minutes.  However, the Surface Pro's and all Windows 10 systems use faststart / fastboot by default which essentially relies on hibernation and is not a true shutdown of the system so I do not believe that the "run at the system startup with delay (in minutes)" setting only applies in this case and only applies to a freshly re-started machine (as I understand it based on some of my own and other MVP testing).  

So, if the scheduled backup is set to run at 6AM and the computer is asleep and does not wake up automatically, it then misses the scheduled task - which makes sense.  And because the system was offline, but did not register a full shutdown and power on, the "run at the system startup with delay (in minutes:)" is also not applying so the scheduled task is not automatically running when the system is turned on.  

I'm guessing if you did a full restart (again, not a shutdown and then power up if you have hibernation and/or fastboot enabled), it would pick up automatically after your delay time has passed then.  You should be able to test that theory  just by rebooting (not a shutdown and restart since that will again be a fast start / fast boot which is hibrernation) and waiting for the delay time to pass by after the system has fully booted into the OS.  If that does work, I think we've identified the issue to faststart and the system not being available during the scheduled time. 

Ray, sorry to hear that this problem is still ongoing.

The suggestion I can make at this time is to ask that you zip up the current C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs folder and post it to the forum again.  

The monitor.log is being updated but the creation date doesn't change, but it would be interesting to see if there are any relevant entries that may help here?

I'm not sure what "I'm guessing if you did a full restart (again, not a shutdown and then power up if you have hibernation and/or fastboot enabled), it would pick up automatically after your delay time has passed then." means. I can shut down either by pressing the button on the top of the screen, closing the keyboard, or letting it time our from inactivity. I asssume it enters sleep mode. If I wake it up it within a short time (an hour?) it shows the Windows screen but if it's a long time (overnight) it shows "Surface" then the Windows screen. I assume the latter is a boot up as it's the same Surface then Windows screen that occurs using the Windows Start button, Power, Restart. So it appears that the Surface will transition from sleep to off after while.

With build 6569 the scheduled backup would only run if "Surface" appeared when powering up. With build 6571 is never will run automatically.

You had commented on 6/19 at 10:57 and there are dialogs following it. I think my experiment described on 6/19 at 17:34 indicates that a delay is needed. I've run so many tests I'm losing track of the results. I seem to me that Acronis has had a problem running on my Surface 3 since Acronis 2014 and this latest build has made it worse.

Ray, I told you what means.  Windows 8.1 - 10 when you press shutdown or select shutdown, by default, doesnt' actually shutdown due to the default "fast start/fast boot" which really only puts your system in a variation of hibernation.  All I'm saying is to use reboot instead of shutdown as a "reboot" forces a full shutdown and then restarts, but when you "shutdown", it may just be hibernating because of fastboot / fast start.  If that is the case, then the system is only hibernating and when you "power up" there is no trigger to Acronis that a full shutdown and restart has actually occured so that specific setting will have no impact.  

The delay is fine - however, it won't do anything if the sytem is not actually shutting down and starting up, but only hibernating because of fast boot / fast start.  

Long story short - just "restart" your machine instead of "shutdown".  Let the delay time pass by and see if it starts to backup on its own shortly after that or not. 

This explains the situation with Windows fast start in more detail... it applies to Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

http://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pros-and-cons-of-windows-10s-fast-s…

After my 9:10 post this morning I use the Back up now button to make an incremental backup. It failed and I'm attaching a screen shot "BU failure 20160717." I think the failure was that my USB cable to the J drive wasn't all the way in but I reselected the destination to be sure. I started the backup again. It ran very slow as you'll see in the screen shot "BU (slow) 20160717" attached. According to the log file viewer it started at 9:34 and finished at 11:12. It's only a 6.4 GB file and should complete much faster. Instead it limped along at 0.066 GB/minute.

This afternoon I decided to run another incremental backup. I rebooted (Windows Start button, Power, Restart) and when I opened Acronis I saw the same screen with a failure notice shown in "BU failure 20160717." It's incorrect as the last backup, though slow, was successful. I ignore it but the backup failed. I then relected the destination but the red X persisted. I switched to another task and back and I think that cleared the red X. I ran the manual backup. According to the log file it created the 400MB file in 1:10 minutes; faster, about 0.34 GB/minute. (My desktop backed up 10.6 GB in 4:04 minutes which is 2.6 GB/minute.)

Attached is the zipped log folder. You'll see both failures and both successful manual backups.

I looked at Acronis' product changes in build 6571. Under Fixed issues they claim the following. The also claim to have fixed the same issue in build 6569 and 6559. Doesn't sound like credible fixes to me!

• Acronis True Image 2016 disables Windows 10 fast startup
• Under bootable media, Acronis True Image 2016 (build 6027) doesn't see the internal disk on Microsoft Surface 3 and Microsoft Surface 4

Fastboot is indeed not fixed and reported as such.  I have a hunch why it is disabled though, but nothing official responded so far:

http://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pros-and-cons-of-windows-10s-fast-s…

Why You Might Want to Disable Fast Startup

• When you shut down a computer with Fast Startup enabled, Windows locks down the Windows hard disk. You won’t be able to access it from other operating systems if you have your computer configured to dual-boot. Even worse, if you boot into another OS and then access or change anything on the hard disk (or partition) that the hibernating Windows installation uses, it can cause corruption. If you’re dual booting, it’s best not to use Fast Startup or Hibernation at all.
• Depending on your system, you may not be able to access BIOS/UEFI settings when you shut down a computer with Fast Startup enabled. When a computer hibernates, it does not enter a fully powered down mode. Some versions of BIOS/UEFI work with a system in hibernation and some do not. If yours doesn’t, you can always restart the computer to access BIOS, since the restart cycle will still perform a full shutdown.

I don't have any issues accessing the internal hard drive with Acronics 2016 since version v6559.  Prior to that, NVME PCIE hard drives were not natively supported in the bootable recovery media.  However, from within Windows, Acronis could access any hard drive available in Windows file explorer.

As for the slow backup time you have set it to "low priority".   I would leave it normal priority if you want better performance.  I would also make sure that there are no power savings features enabled under power management for your USB ports and/or hard drives.  I would then do the same in computer management >>> hardware management and make sure that power settings are not allowing the system to reduce power to the USB ports and/or hard drives there as well.  By default, unless you're using "high performance" as your power setting, these devices will be set to reduce power to extend battery life - especially on portable devices.  

Could your USB port be bad, or perhaps the cable - interesting it was loose.  Is your backup hard drive attached to the Surface Dock or directly to the Surface Pro 3?  I have read numerous times that the Surface Pro 3 has an underpowered UsB 3.0 port on it which would be problematic with non-powered hard drives - especially those that use spinnings disk. Your external drive may be cutting in and out if attached directly to this port and even with some external USB powered hubs.  It has been recommended several times to use a UsB Y adapter with the Surface Pro and plug the second end directly into the USB port on the AC adapter for additional power.

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/surface-3-pro-usb-port-problem.109…

http://betanews.com/2014/12/25/santa-brought-you-a-surface-pro-3-heres-…

https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3enoek/is_the_surface_3s_usb_…

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro3-surfdevice/su…

I think Acronis "solved" the fast startup issue by disabling it in the computer when the software is installed.

For comparison, both my wife's and my desktop computers are running Windows 10, have Intel Core i7 CPUs, 16GB ram and SSD drives. We use Acronis 2014 instead of 2016. In power settings, fast startup and Sleep are enabled and Hiberate disabled.  We have no issues with schedule backups running whether the computer is on, asleep, or is powered up after the scheduled time. Backup performance is set to low and it doesn't noticably impact using the computer. My last full backup file is 294GB and took 51 minutes while I was using the computer; 5.8 GB/minute is plenty good.

The Surface 3 Pro has an Intel i5, 8GB ram and SSD drive so backup is expected to be slower. Power settings have only Sleep enabled. With Acronis 2016 build 6571 scheduled backups never start regardless of power state. 

Both desktops and my Surface use external USB Seagate 4TB drives with their own power supplies. These Seagates power down after a few minutes but wake up when Acronis starts and haven't been an issue. On the Surface I wondered if drive wakeup might be a problem so created a task to backup to the C: drive but it failed too. 

I know that computer USB ports can only supply about an amp and are marginal powering devices. On our desktops I've added Anker powered USB hubs (great product and support) as our iPhone 6+ would drop in and out if they required charging.

As for the cable, I just hadn't shoved it all the way into the Surface port.

"In power settings, fast startup and Sleep are enabled and Hiberate disabled."

Fast startup cannot function with hibernate disabled - you mean you're just not using hibernation?  IF you've disabled hibernation, then you have actually disabled fast startup yourself.  It is not possible to use fast startup without hibernation since fast startup makes a hibernation file to make the system appear to boot more quickly when it is "shut down". 

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-1…

If you disable hibernate, then it will also disable fast startup.

That said, Acronis does actually disable fast startup anytime after a backup is run and that is what users have been complaining about.  However, I thinmk Acronis is doing this, so that in the event of recovery, the system is fully shutdown and not in a state of fast boot hibernation which will prevent recovery from being able to occur.  Likewise, many people use ASRM which would boot into it's own temporary Acronis OS and if the OS had a locked hibernation file, it would prevent the boot from being successful and could impact the windows bootloader as a result.

I'm trying to help resolve your issue, but am running out of ideas.  It does work with surface pros, I've used it with them.  What's unique in your OS or setup though, I really can't say.

Did you ever go back and create a brand new backup task as a test and schedule it to run while the system was awake?  If not, I'm not sure why you're hesitating in doing this.  Start with a clean backup task - a new one.  Schedule it to run 5 minutes after the task is created.  Just make sure to save the task by clicking the drop down next to "backup now" at the end and tell it "later" - that will save the task.  Keep the machine active for the next 5 minutes - move the mouse around or something from time to time.  See if it backs up or not while the system is fully awake and you have eyes on it.

Ray, thanks for the zipped log files, these do not show anything than we both expected.

Another request please, can you zip up the Schedule2 logs and post those please. You will find these in C:\ProgramData\Acronis\Schedule2 folder and may help us to focus in more on what the scheduler is doing here.

To go with the above logs, please can you use the Acronis Scheduler Manager to produce a list of all your scheduled tasks by running schedmgr.exe then using the command Get list.  This is in a Command prompt type window, and you should be able to copy the output from get list using the edit commands available - see screen shot.  Once you click on Select all, you can then just press the Enter key to copy the listing to the clipboard, then paste into the forum.  This will help to correlate the log entries with your scheduled tasks.

For Bobbo - I scheduled a task to run 5-minutes later while the Surface was awake. It ran fine. I've just created a new task to run an hour from now then used Start, Shut down. I've got errands to run. When I get back in a few hours I'll power up and the overdue task should run. I'll post the results later today.

For Steve - Attached are the zipped Schedule 2 logs and the Scheduled tasks. 

Ray, thank you for the schedule2 logs, they show that you do have Windows Fast Start enabled.

17.07.2016 15:29:11.929 2860 Windows fast startup state: ENABLED PRESENCE

It also shows that for this particular task (1-2) the next scheduled run is set to:

17.07.2016 15:29:11.960 2860 OnServiceMainWake: next time = 24.07.2016 06:00:00

The log then showed that the task was run manually.

17.07.2016 15:58:07.353 3764 Trying task 1-2 as MANUAL
17.07.2016 15:58:07.353 3764 Preferred WTS id=1
17.07.2016 15:58:07.353 3764 Windows fast startup state to disable: ENABLED PRESENCE
17.07.2016 15:58:07.353 3764 Windows fast startup state disabled: BACKUP PRESENCE
17.07.2016 15:58:07.369 3040 Running task 1-2
...
17.07.2016 15:58:09.875 3040 Task 1-2 completed with exit code=1

This is repeated again later at 
17.07.2016 16:01:02.149 8940 Trying task 1-2 as MANUAL
...
17.07.2016 16:02:12.252 3040 Task 1-2 completed with exit code=0

Later I see:

18.07.2016 10:38:01.514 2860 OnServiceMainWake: begin
18.07.2016 10:38:01.514 2860 Trying task 1-4 as TIME_NORMAL
18.07.2016 10:38:01.514 2860 Windows fast startup state to disable: ENABLED PRESENCE
18.07.2016 10:38:01.514 2860 Windows fast startup state disabled: BACKUP PRESENCE
18.07.2016 10:38:01.530 2860 SetWaitableTimer(-863390000000): error=0
18.07.2016 10:38:01.530 2860 Windows fast startup state to enable: BACKUP PRESENCE
18.07.2016 10:38:01.546 3040 Running task 1-4
18.07.2016 10:38:01.546 2860 Windows fast startup state enabled: ENABLED PRESENCE
18.07.2016 10:38:01.546 3040 DuplicateTokenEx: token=0000000000000370 error=0 token=00000000000002A8
18.07.2016 10:38:01.546 2860 OnServiceMainWake: next time = 19.07.2016 10:38:00
...
18.07.2016 10:38:34.735 3040 Task 1-4 completed with exit code=0

From your text file for Get list, it shows the following task information.

Task 1-2 = B2A845A6-063E-4817-AB4C-ED4ACD79ED46
Task 1-4 = 4D692055-0694-46A1-9721-9C5AAC1289E8

You will need to check C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts to identify which specific tasks are used by these script IDs, this will be shown in the text within the .tis file.

Ray, I'm going to guess that the missed task will not run with fastboot enabled and using the shutdown button since it will just hibernate and upon waking will not trigger with Acronis that a full shutdown has occured.  Let us know though.

However, if you then restart, I think it will trigger and run the missed backup automatically once the startup delay time has passed (I think you said you set it to 10 minutes).

Perhaps, until Acronis gets the code updated to properly address a fastboot startup, you can simply run a command prompt to shutdown the system.  You can copy into notepad and save as shutdown.bat.  Then run the .bat command by double clicking on it and it will act as a new shutdown button - one that does not use fast start.

shutown /S /t 3  

All this is a Windows shutodwn command with a 3 second delay (If you don't use /t, the default delay is 60 seconds.  You can change 3 to whatever you want.. in seconds though).  Using the shutdown command with /S forces a full shutdown and not a fast startup shutdown.  This would mean that anytime the system boots up after running this command will always be a full startup and not a system startup coming out of hibernation.    

My 1st scheduled test task this morning called "Test task while running" was success. I created a 2nd daily task called "Temp powered off" to run five minutes after shuting down using Windows "Start, Shut down." It's now several hours overdue. I just powered up and it failed to run. Acronis says it never has run.

I looked at the power setting. "Turn on fast startup", "Sleep" and "Lock" are checked and "Hybernate" is unchecked.

I unchecked fast startup then edited the task to make the backup time 10 minutes from now and shut down with "Start, Shut down." I powered up 5 minutes past the scheduled time. The task did run and fast startup is still unchecked. So having fast startup turned on causes Acronis 2016 to fail.

Bobbo on 7/17 @ 21:16 says Acronis disables fast startup after a backup is run. As my 1st task did run then why was it enabled (checked)?

As I posted earlier, my desktops are running Acronis 2014 have fast startup turned on and have no problem. If you read Acronis' product changes at https://www.acronis.com/en-us/my/products/changes.html?p=38709 you'll see that under Fixed issues they claim to have fixed "Acronis True Image 2016 disables Windows 10 fast startup" for the current build of 6571. But the also claim to have fixed the same issue in builds 6569 and 6559. This is typical of Acronis to break something that works in 2014 and never seem to figure out how to fix it. I'm really disappointed in their software development team.

I deleted both the above test task and their files. Fast startup and Hybernate are unchecked. I created a daily task to backup the log file folder. I ran it once and fast startup and hybernate are stilll unchecked. Let's see what happens.

If it works fine, if not and I get frustrated enough I'll install Acronis 2014 on my Surface. I purchased it in July 2014 and installed Acronis 2014. The issue at that time on my desktops was with shut down after a backup http://forum.acronis.com/forum/55639#comment-184401. Acronis couldn't fix it so gave me a free update to Acronis 2015 in August 2014 which I promptly installed on my Surface to test it. I didn't and still don't like its user interface so left the desktops running Acronis 2014. I replaced the desktops in November 2014 and installed Acronis 2014. I upgraded them and the Surface to Windows 10 in November 2015. Acronis 2014 is trouble-free on the desktops and may work fine on the Surface as well.

Bobbo on 7/17 @ 21:16 says Acronis disables fast startup after a backup is run. As my 1st task did run then why was it enabled (checked)?

It is only temporarily disabled for the rest of that Windows session.  After a full shutdown (restart), it automatically is enable at the next boot.  However, anytime an Acronis backup attempts to run though, it will turn fast boot off again until the next full shutdown.

You can confirm this easily....

After a full restart and no Acronis backups have been run yet, open the registry and check this key.  If you have fast boot enabled, it should be set to 1 automatically.  Then run an Acronis backup and check the key again - it will be set to 0.  Reboot (full shutdown and restart).  The key should be back to 1 again. 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power

HiberbootEnabled DWORD

0 = Turn off fast startup
1 = Turn on fast startup

You can also confirm the boot type in your system logs.  

If fastboot is enabled and the registry key above shows it is set to 1, when you shutdown the system logs will show event ID 27 and status 0x1 = fastboot.  They are preceeded by event ID 42 as well (entering sleep).

Then run an Acronis backup and event ID 27 will show as status of  0x0 = regular boot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honestly, on systems with SSD's fastboot boot time should be very minimal.  I can't even tell the difference in my deskop when the OS is on a Samsung 850 EVO and boot times between it and my newer 950 Pro, I can't tell either.  I have fast boot disabled and really don't see any realword difference.  The Surface Pro 3 should be plenty fast with boot times, but it's your call whether you want to disable fastboot permanently or not.  In my own humble opinion, I really don't think fastboot brings a lot of benfit with systems using decent SSD drives.  If you have an older mechanical drive though, you will shave off several seconds - perhaps even a minute if fastboot is enabled so I can definitely see the benefit there.  

Acronis 2014 was out before Windows 10 was released.  Perhaps it does not have this behavior as a result, but because of how fastboot can lock a hard drive when the hiberfile.sys is saved, I believe that is why it was changed in 2015/2016 to address this so that ARSM and/or the offline media could function more effectively.  Is it a bug?  I'm not sure - it's been reported by several MVP's and we're waiting to see how 2017 behaves when the final is released (beta is out now for testing, but it's still an early beta release). 

Do what you feel is best - if automated backups are more important then the miliseconds fastboot will save you on boot time with your Surface Pro 3, I'd recommend you disable fastboot and problem is solved.  If those miliseconds are more important than automated backups, then your option for now is to "restart" the computer to force a full shutdown, or create the shortcut I mentioend earlier and use that to shutdown the machine easily.  

Earlier when I created the daily task i ran it manually and both before and after running the box was unchecked. I shut down the Surface using the Windows button, Power, Shut down. 

I just powered up and checked using  Control Panel, Power Options and selecting from the list on the left,"Choose what the power button does." Shut down settings still has Turn off fast startup unchecked. (I assume this is the same as checking the registry.) I then again use the Windows button, Power, Shut down and restarted. Without starting any programs I checked again and it's still unchecked. 

It seems to me that it's staying unchecked. Who was automatically turning it back on, Windows? Does this make sense? 

If you manually turn it off - yes, it will stay off. That's fine to do and would be my recommendation in your case.

For those that have fastboot turned on though, this is the behavior of Acronis and the point I was trying to convey when you scheduled backups were not working because of fast boot being enabled. 

"I think Acronis "solved" the fast startup issue by disabling it in the computer when the software is installed."

I don't believe that is correct, at least not in 2016 - perhaps it was in 2014.  I don't know, I didn't have 2014 running on any Windows 10 systems since it's not officially supported.  As far as Acronis 2015/2016 goes though (this is the 2016 forum), it does not do this.  However, it does temporairly disable the registry key after a backup runs, but if fastboot is not specifically disabled by the user, than a reboot will reset teh regkey and fastboot will continue to work until the next backup runs.

I think we're mixing apples and oranges here.  Best of luck with the rest of your troubleshooting, I think I've exhausted enough effort in attempting to clarify the variances and issues with fastboot and its impact on ACronis backups as applied to 2015/2016.  

Thanks to both of you for your comments, patience, and guidance. The backup ran this morning. Fast startup is still off. And I think this issue is finally solved. Acronis need to fix their software so others don't experience it!

As for Acronis installation changing the setting of fast startup, I agree that it doesn't. After uninstalling 2016 build 6571, running the cleanup tool, and reinstalling on 7/15 the scheduled backups failed when restarting the Surface. I don't know what happens with Acronis 2014 but both my desktops have fast startup enabled and backups from boot work fine. Acronis wakes up the computer from sleep and runs the scheduled backups too. 

I'd say too that Acronis 2016 does not disable fast startup after a successful backup either; otherwise after doing a manual backup subsequent scheduled backups would have successed when I booted up.

In conclusion, you have to manually uncheck fast startup in power settings and it will stay unchecked. 

Acronis tech support apparently doesn't monitor this forum either. They should know the solution and post it so we users don't waste so much time figuring out what's wrong. If it hadn't been for you MVP Volunteers I'd still be struggling with backups failing to run.

Thanks again.

Ray,

Glad it's finally sorted out (well, at least the fastboot issue was identified and has a work-a-round).  Acronis has acknowledged that the product still isn't behaving with fastboot in a couple of threads, but SLAVA just mentioned it again in this one:  http://forum.acronis.com/forum/114438#comment-376376).

2017 beta is out now, but I haven't tested fastboot specifically yet.  I'll wait until the 2nd beta is released which should be pretty soon.  Just curios, with with the SSD in the Surface Pro 3, how are boot times with fast boot disabled - much difference when you start it up?  I could barely tell with an 850 EVO SSD and really can't tell with a 950 Pro NVME SSD so I've just gotten used to not using fastboot because I want all of my other bootable media (not just Acronis) to work correctly.