Task Scheduler fails to start PortfolioCenter Backup

Q. I’m using the Task Scheduler to run a PortfolioCenter backup very week.  Most of the time it works fine, but about every three months, the backup does not run and when I check the Task Scheduler says “could not start.”  Do you have any idea what’s going wrong?

A.  Kudos for performing regular backups!  If a scheduled task does not run after a certain period of time, most likely the solution is to re-enter the password in the properties of the task — even if the password has not changed. This appears to be a issue in Windows NT and Windows 2000, but not in Windows 7.

If you’re running Windows 7, right-click on the task and check the Properties.  Then on the TASK tab, make sure the ENABLED box is selected.  And on the SCHEDULE Tab, verify that the schedule is set properly.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, try checking the error logs.

• Open the Scheduled Tasks
• Click Advanced – View Log – to see the list of errors. The newest entries are at the end of the log file, so scroll down to the bottom.
• View the error: Sometimes the error message will be obvious.  If it’s not obvious, at least you’ll have the information you need to give to your Tech Support person.

Need a quick answer?  Ask a question and I’ll try to answer with a blog post.

Photo used here under Flickr Creative Commons.