Scheduled tasks may not appear to have run

Following a major Windows 10 update, the Windows Task Scheduler (WTS) entries created by Double Image may not appear to run as you might expect.

Condition: When the scheduled task is run, the Double Image user interface (UI) may not be visible. This may be acceptable to the user, and may not depending on the user's preferences.

When the WTS security option is set to 'Run whether user is logged on or not' the WTS assumes the job will run without the user being logged on. Therefore the UI and other dialogs are not displayed. In the case of Double Image, the copy engine UI will not be shown in a user's Task bar as running, and probably leaving you to wonder if your scheduled backup really ran or not. [...and if no one is logged on, no windows can be presented].

Scheduled tasks created by Double Image produce an entry into the Windows Task Scheduler (WTS). The default settings on the WTS 'General' tab, 'Security options' might look quite like this:

'Run whether user is logged on or not' may be what the user actually requires. If so, it is important to run the job under the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM user or a user that is available to the system when other admin users may be logged off.

In this case:

• Double Image jobs will run silently.
  
• Logged on users will not see evidence of a Double Image running task.
• Job results can be found in the Double Image log.
• Job results can be found in the WTS task history.
• When the job is running and an administrative user is logged on, then the Windows Task Manager will show the job as running, provided all processes are selected to be shown.
  
• The Double Image profile that is called by the WTS should have the Copy option : Run Option : Auto-Exit at End of Job selected; otherwise the job will not leave the Windows active process mix, the WTS will also show the job as still running. In this case the admin user may wonder if the job ran or not, not realizing that the backup is complete but still held as an active process by Windows.
  
  
  

When the Double Image copy engine needs to be shown to the user

• From the Double Image UI, open the Double Image scheduler window and change the Run option to 'Run only when user is logged on'.
• This will re-create the scheduled task by re-publishing it to the WTS.
  
  

• Ensure that the user is a member of the Administrator group (this is not the 'Administrator' account user that was created when Windows was installed).

As of Double Image release 7.0.54, the user is prompted with a warning message when the option 'Run only when user is logged on' is not selected.