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I have a scheduled task that runs fine normally but does not wake up computer to run it. I have enabled the Wake Timer under power option and made sure I check the box to wake computer to run it when setting up the task. I also checked that the high precision event timer is enabled and running under device manager as I've seen some posts indicate that is a problem. Any other things I should check?
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I have exactly the same problem. All I want to do is run an overnight backup. The backup schedule runs fine when the machine is awake but is skipped when it the machine sleeps.
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I have the same problem trying to run my backup each night. I did many of the things mentioned here and then it started working but I could not figure out why. Then I made a change to my backup program parameters, and it stopped working. Trouble is, I have to wait overnight for each change to see if it has started working again. I see in the task scheduler several tasks created by other programs and none of them seem to run in the middle of the night. My tasks run as soon as I wake up the PC in the morning instead of their scheduled time in the middle of the night. This is a desktop PC so I am not worried about running on battery. I wonder if this has something to do with "Deep Sleep". In my BIOS, it is set to "in S4 and S5".
Hi MikeL
I normally let the computer time out to sleep. I set the Power options "Sleep after">"Plugged in" to '10 mins' when testing this feature. However until a resolution is found to my problem and while I am not testing a possible solution, it is set to 'Never' so that the overnight backups will run.
Regards
MikeT
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I'm guessing that your issue is being caused by settings related to your user account. When the PC goes to sleep it may be logging you out of your user account and on manually waking from sleep you will be prompted to enter a password or PIN.
If this is the case and your scheduled task is set to run only when the user is logged on then it will not work.
Take a look at your Account settings and under Additional settings make sure that the option "If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again?" is set to Never.
Alternatively, you could try changing the setting on the scheduled task to "Run whether the user is logged on or not". This option sometimes has unintended consequences in that the task you are starting is not running under the context of the "User" so the backup may not give you the results you expect.
Mike
Hi MikeL
Sorry for the delay, I have not been able to get to this again yet, but I will explore my account settings, I appreciate your suggestions and I will come back to you as soon as I can.
Regards
MikeT
Hi MikeL
I have been looking at this and I think you are right, in fact I am coming around to the idea that it is Windows Hello that is blocking the task login. when I look to "If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again?" on Windows 11, this is set to Every Time and it is greyed out so I cannot change it. There is also a note saying that "Windows Hello is preventing some options from being changed" but I went back to an older Windows 10 machine and this parameter can be changed without any problems.
MikeT
Hi MikeT,
Unfortunately I cannot offer any insight with Windows Hello. All of my PC's are set up with local accounts and use a strong password. With the emphasis on more security with Windows Hello it does seem to make more sense that the option for signing in again is greyed out otherwise it defeats the purpose.
If you explore further on this please post your findings, I'd be interested in knowing the resolution.
Mike
One other thought. Make sure your User Account has admin privileges. There's a good chance that the option is greyed out because of that.
MikeL
Yes, the user does have admin privileges. Thanks anyhow. If I find a solution I will post it. There must be other people out there that have the same problem!
Regards
MikeT
Just for the heck of it try changing the setting on the Scheduled Task to Run whether the user is logged on or not and see if the backup is triggered.
Which backup app are you using?
Is the scheduled task to fire it off setup when you installed the backup app or did you create it yourself?
Mike
Hi MikeL
Sorry for the delay in my reply but I have just carried out a complete clean install of Windows 11 Home edition and applied all updates drivers and firmware. Then I installed my backup software - Macrium Reflect version 8 home edition and configured it (within the backup software) to do a scheduled backup at 3:00AM. I checked the task settings and that Wake timers were enabled. The laptop was set to sleep after 10 minutes so the machine would be asleep for about 5 hours before the backup scheduled start time. No other software was installed at this stage. Guess what, the backup failed to run again as before, however, in the log I noticed the status was marked as 'Skipped' .
This test was set up using the Macrium Reflect's own built in scheduler but one can switch the backup to configure a Windows schedule task, this I did and checked all the settings generated for the task (unfortunately Macrium owns the task and I as a user (with admin rights) cannot change most settings. Again it was due to run at 3:00AM but again nothing happened.
So I think this is the end of the line, I had earlier raised this problem with Macrium but after asking me to do various checks, concluded this was not an issue with the software. So I am at a brick wall.
Thanks for your suggestions
Regards
MikeT