File history does not sync

alpha45 · Apr 30, 2024

Can someone explain to me why file history doesn't automatically sync with settings?
No errors appear in the event log, everything is active and if I click on run, it does it regularly, I tried stopping and restarting the service, but nothing happens.
Thank you

andrew129260 · Apr 30, 2024

File History requires the File History Service and Windows Search services to be enabled and running.

Set up File History in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to set up and turn on File History to back up files for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. File History regularly backs up versions of your files in the Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop folders and the OneDrive files available offline on...

www.elevenforum.com

Reset File History to Default in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to completely reset all File History settings back to default for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. File History regularly backs up versions of your files in the Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop folders and the OneDrive files available...

www.elevenforum.com

File history will be eventually deprecated so keep this in mind.

alpha45 · Apr 30, 2024

andrew129260 said:
File History requires the File History Service and Windows Search services to be enabled and running.
File history will be eventually deprecated so keep this in mind.

I meant: can someone explain to me why file history doesn't automatically sync with settings?

andrew129260 · Apr 30, 2024

alpha45 said:
I meant: can someone explain to me why file history doesn't automatically sync with settings?

What do you mean by sync with settings?

alpha45 · Apr 30, 2024

andrew129260 said:
What do you mean by sync with settings?

It is set to run history files every day!

andrew129260 · Apr 30, 2024

So you are saying it works when you run it manually but its not doing it automatically?

Try the reset then.

alpha45 · Apr 30, 2024

andrew129260 said:
So you are saying it works when you run it manually but its not doing it automatically? Yes

Try the reset then.

we'll see over time..
Thank you

alpha45 · May 1, 2024

andrew129260 said:
So you are saying it works when you run it manually but its not doing it automatically?

Try the reset then.

Unfortunately it didn't start today! (But didn't I have modified collection files??)

andrew129260 · May 1, 2024

If you go into task scheduler, do you see the task in there?

Also, try doing a disk check on your C: drive

alpha45 · May 1, 2024

andrew129260 said:
If you go into task scheduler, do you see the task in there?

Also, try doing a disk check on your C: drive

There is only File History (maintenance mode), where in general it is set: run with elevated privileges, in conditions it is set: start if powered by mains, and in settings: allow activities on request.

Drive C is SSD and ok!

alpha45 · May 1, 2024

For the moment it has started working again, we'll see over time.
Thanks anyway

hdmi · May 2, 2024

\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\File History (maintenance mode) is an Automatic Maintenance Task. Automatic maintenance (Task Scheduler) - Win32 apps

In Powershell, you can view the Task Definition for this task in XML format by running a command:

Powershell:

Export-ScheduledTask -TaskName "File History (maintenance mode)" -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\"

Look at the Deadline element. On my laptop this Deadline was P7D, or 7 days (default). So, if you have set the Period for this task to P1D you might want to change the Deadline to something like maybe P1DT1S, or 1 day 1 second so, if this Deadline is missed, the maintenance scheduler will continue to attempt to execute the task during the maintenance window. Further, the scheduler will not limit itself to the regular 1-hour time limit. Instead, the scheduler extends the duration of the maintenance window in order to complete the delayed task. Automatic maintenance (Task Scheduler) - Win32 apps

To view the Period, Deadline, Exclusive, and AllowStartOnDemand for this task:

Powershell:

$t=(Get-ScheduledTask |? {$_.TaskName -eq "File History (maintenance mode)" -and $_.TaskPath -eq "\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\"}).Settings;$t.MaintenanceSettings |select Period,Deadline,Exclusive,@{n="AllowStartOnDemand";e={$t.AllowDemandStart}} |fl

To view only the Deadline for this task:

Powershell:

(Get-ScheduledTask |? {$_.TaskName -eq "File History (maintenance mode)" -and $_.TaskPath -eq "\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\"}).Settings.MaintenanceSettings.Deadline

To change the Deadline for this task to P1DT1S :

Powershell:

$s=(Get-ScheduledTask |? {$_.TaskName -eq "File History (maintenance mode)" -and $_.TaskPath -eq "\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\"}).Settings;$s.MaintenanceSettings.Deadline="P1DT1S";Set-ScheduledTask -TaskName "File History (maintenance mode)" -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\" -Settings $s

Please note, on my laptop the Period was P3D so, the Powershell command above threw me an error because the deadline must be longer than the period. Automatic maintenance (Task Scheduler) - Win32 apps

(To view/change the Period, you can edit the 2 commands above, substitute Deadline with Period in each, and also substitute P1DT1S with the correct value you want in the command above.)

alpha45 · May 2, 2024

hdmi said:
\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\File History (maintenance mode) is an Automatic Maintenance Task. Automatic maintenance (Task Scheduler) - Win32 apps
....

If it gives me any more problems, I'll try to use your suggestions...
Thank you very much

alpha45 · May 2, 2024

hdmi said:
\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\File History (maintenance mode) is an Automatic Maintenance Task. Automatic maintenance (Task Scheduler) - Win32 apps

Since today FH has not yet updated the backups, I am sending you my configuration following your instructions and since the matter is not very clear (for me) you can kindly check if there is any problem.
Thank you in advance...

hdmi · May 3, 2024

AFAIK nothing looks abnormal in those pictures. When you run the command fhmanagew -backupnow, does File History make a backup?

Have you verified that enough free storage space is available on your File History drive?

I can see that you have set Keep saved versions (in Control Panel | File History | Advanced Settings) to 3 months. However, AFAIK Windows does not automatically clear the older versions of the files. How to Cleanup Older File History Backups in Windows 10/11

alpha45 · May 3, 2024

hdmi said:
AFAIK nothing looks abnormal in those pictures. When you run the command fhmanagew -backupnow, does File History make a backup?

Have you verified that enough free storage space is available on your File History drive?

I can see that you have set Keep saved versions (in Control Panel | File History | Advanced Settings) to 3 months. However, AFAIK Windows does not automatically clear the older versions of the files. How to Cleanup Older File History Backups in Windows 10/11

Not working automatically, I used the fhmanagew -backupnow command and it created two new backups, while the FhManagew -cleanup 2 command does not work, it tells me: the element cannot be found, even though I have 5 elements.
There is more than enough space on the disk...

hdmi · May 3, 2024

alpha45 said:
the FhManagew -cleanup 2 command does not work, it tells me: the element cannot be found, even though I have 5 elements.

Try steps 5 and then 7 from this post.

alpha45 · May 9, 2024

hdmi said:
Try

Since it doesn't start automatically yet, I'm attaching the HTML configuration file of the Fh schedule, but it seems to me that the relevant command isn't there..
Hello

Code:

<Task xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task" version="1.6">
<RegistrationInfo>
<Source>Microsoft Corporation</Source>
<Date>2010-08-12T00:00:00</Date>
<Author>Microsoft Corporation</Author>
<Version>1.0</Version>
<Description>Consente di copiare i file dell'utente in un percorso di backup quando il sistema non è in uso per evitare che vengano persi accidentalmente</Description>
<URI>\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\File History (maintenance mode)</URI>
<SecurityDescriptor>D:(A;OICI;FA;;;BA)(A;OICI;FA;;;SY)(A;OICI;FRFX;;;LS)(A;OICI;FRFX;;;AU)</SecurityDescriptor>
</RegistrationInfo>
<Triggers/>
<Principals>
<Principal id="LocalService">
<UserId>S-1-5-19</UserId>
<RunLevel>LeastPrivilege</RunLevel>
</Principal>
</Principals>
<Settings>
<MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy>
<DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>true</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>
<StopIfGoingOnBatteries>true</StopIfGoingOnBatteries>
<AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate>
<StartWhenAvailable>false</StartWhenAvailable>
<RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>false</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>
<IdleSettings>
<StopOnIdleEnd>false</StopOnIdleEnd>
<RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle>
</IdleSettings>
<AllowStartOnDemand>true</AllowStartOnDemand>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Hidden>false</Hidden>
<RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle>
<DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession>false</DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession>
<UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>true</UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>
<MaintenanceSettings>
<Period>P3D</Period>
<Deadline>P7D</Deadline>
<Exclusive>false</Exclusive>
</MaintenanceSettings>
<WakeToRun>false</WakeToRun>
<ExecutionTimeLimit>PT0S</ExecutionTimeLimit>
<Priority>7</Priority>
</Settings>
<Actions Context="LocalService">
<ComHandler>
<ClassId>{89917B7C-A1A6-11DF-8BF6-18A90531A85A}</ClassId>
</ComHandler>
</Actions>
</Task>

hdmi · May 9, 2024

The Actions element references the Class ID of a COM Handler, {89917B7C-A1A6-11DF-8BF6-18A90531A85A}. This Class ID points to the FhTaskHandler Class. In the Windows registry the HKCR\CLSID\{89917B7C-A1A6-11DF-8BF6-18A90531A85A}\InprocServer32 key specifies the path of the 32 bit DLL that implements the in-process server of this COM Handler, %SystemRoot%\System32\fhtask.dll. It is able to communicate with the File History Service by performing function calls to various functions that can be found inside the File History Service Control Library (fhsvcctl.dll). I.e.,