Automatic Shutdown does not work when logged off
Hi everyone,
I have been using TIH since version 8.0 and have started using TIH2013 a few weeks ago.
The issue I will describe below does not occur on my own systems but on a PC of an elderly person I support when it comes to computers.
The system in question runs Win7 Pro x64 and TIH2013. This is a new system, clean install, all updates applied, no previous TIH Installations. Apart from the issue described below, the system has been very stable since its setup.
There is a weekly imaging backup job that runs at night. The user just starts his machine in the evening and usually does not log on any more. The backup itself runs fine, however, there is a problem with the automatic shutdown.
In the morning, the computer still runs. As soon as you log on with an administrative account, TIH2013 tells you that it is going to shutdown the PC within 30sec if you don't abort the process. The e-mail report (configured to be sent via the corresponding tab) is sent without problems just before the shutdown and shows that the backup procedure ran as scheduled but the shutdown happened only upon login.
I have been using automatic shutdown procedures in tandem with e-mail reporting for several years and on quite a few computers with versions 2011 and 2012. So far, I've not experienced any real issues. This one, however, I can't figure out.
Does anyone know this issue? Might this be a bug in 2013 #5551 ?
Can anyone give me a pointer on how to solve it?
Tx in advance.
Is 2013 installed for all users or just this persons log on?
Colin, unlike some applications the ATI 2013 installer does not give me the option to install for all users or for just the user doing the install.
Oh, I could have sworn mine did, OK, mea culpa :)
No worries. You got me wondering if you'd installed a different version from what I did.
[UPDATE] I am able to reproduce the problem.
@Colin, @tuttle
Thanks for your comments.
Just to clarify: There is an administrative account (not the standard account "Administrator") to administer the machine and a restricted account to work in. As you both know, Acronis TIH2013 needs admin privileges to run and to be configured. So there's no actual question, which account is used to configure TIH2013.
Apart from that, I was able to reproduce the problem on one of my own machines.
Basically, it's the same thing: Win7Pro x64, TIH2013 #5551
I set up a scheduled backup job with e-mail notification and rebooted the machine. When I checked back hours later, there was no e-mail. I logged in and a window popped up instantaneously, telling me that TIH2013 was going to shutdown the PC if I didn't decide otherwise. However, I couldn't even have a good look around, because now, TIH finished up its job and shut down the system within 30 seconds or so. Before doing so, it did send the e-mail notification.
The e-mail report showed, that the job had started at the scheduled time and had run through normally. Only at the end, when it should have shut the system down, it had stopped.
So... 2 systems and reproducible (at least in my experience) usually means: Software problem, not PEBKAC.
If you have any hints, they will be highly appreciated.
Is there anything in the Acronis log and in Windows Event Manager that might point to the problem area?
What happens if you use a batch/cmd file as a post command option containing the Windows shutdown parameters, does TIH shut Windows down then?
I have a feeling there might be something else running that has a higher priority than TIH when it comes to system commands and is blocking TIH.
Programs I have found that prevent Windows sleep (haven't tried shutdown), are Windows Sync, Windows Update, uTorrent, some video software
Hello Colin
Thank you for your suggestions.
At least one of the installations I reported on is VERY conservative, meaning that there is little software present, at all. The other one features some more tools, however, there is definitely no file sharing software present and Windows sync is not active. What do you mean by "video software"? More like players or more like cutting software? Do you think of some specific applications?
No, there's nothing in the Windows Event Viewer that points in any way towards the problem.
There are no warnings or critical messages either around the time, when the imaging stopped and got stuck just before the shutdown, or around the time when the actual shutdown took place. There are, of course, a number of information level messages around both points in time. However, none of them gives any clue as to what might cause the problem.
The Acronis log is even less informative. There is just no log entry between the time the validation started and the final "successful" message + "mail sent" message. That's the "time gap" we're looking at. So Acronis just "hangs about" after completing the validation.
I'm going to test your last suggestion to use a shutdown batch file instead of the Acronis shutdown option.
Cheers.
This solution might be applicable to your shutdown problem.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/keep_wi…
What I am suggesting is that the Acronis Pre/post option be used to run a separate post command which will start a separate cmd/batch file to issue the shutdown command. I would not use the shutdown command issued by TrueImage.
I tested the suggestion which Colin and GroverH made.
I used a single line batch script containting a shutdown command:
c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe /s /f /t 300 /c "my shutdown comment"
So far, it has been working.
I think it is important to invoke the shutdown command with some time to spare for the Acronis backup job to wrap up and send its reporting email before the pc shuts down. At least in my case it seems to work.
@GroverH:
The article you suggested mainly talks about power settings and how to set the before and after a backup job via a script. While this still illustrates the principle of running pre-job and post-job batch files, my problems had nothing to do with the power settings. But I guess, you already thought so.
So - with your input - I found a workaround to my problem. That's something. :-)
However, the shutdown option in TIH worked smoothly in the 2011 and 2012 versions. That's why I would still appreciate it, if the problem was fixed in a future release of TIH2013.
Windstrewn,
Glad to hear that at least you can get going! Are you still within your 30 day support period? If so I would suggest raising a support ticket on this issue, mainly becuase I don't think there have been other reports on your exact problem and to solve it Acronis would probably need an Acronis System report or a Process dump so that they could see what on your system is preventing True Image from issuing the Windows shut down command as obviously the post operation CMD file does work.