Duplicacy has stopped backing up

Bug
,
#1

This is a weird one.

I went on a trip recently, starting on April 17. Before I left home, I shut down and unplugged two desktop PCs, and took two laptops with me on my trip. All four of these machines are running Duplicacy, installed for all users (using the service) and set up to perform scheduled backups.

Since I returned on April 28, the two laptops that I took with me are backing up according to their schedules, but the two desktop PCs, despite being powered on, connected to the Internet, and working otherwise normally, have performed no backups. (I determined this by checking in the .duplicacy/logs folders and seeing no logs after April 17.) I have checked to make sure the Duplicacy service is running (it is), and the GUI is set up to perform the scheduled backups (schedule box is checked, and green dots exist in all the job tabs).

Yet, no backups are happening.

#2

If you run Windows Event Viewer, you should be able to find Duplicacy events like ā€˜Next backup at hh:mmā€™. If you donā€™t see these events, then it is either the service is not running, or there is some issues with the backup job configuration. You should run the GUI as administrator to configure the backup jobs but always remember to exit the GUI for the service to resume running.

#3

I find no such events in Event Viewer. I do find events where the service gets paused and resumed when Iā€™m looking at the GUI. Hereā€™s a pic. Oops, embedding doesnā€™t work, so hereā€™s a link: Event Viewer
Am I looking in the right place?

I have been using Duplicacy GUI for three months. I have well learned the lesson that one must run the GUI as admin, and one must right click the tray icon and Quit. I always do these things.

The service is running: Services

Backup job configuration seems correct to me: Config example

Repeating for emphasis: All four of my computers were doing their scheduled backups without problem for weeks before I turned two computers off for 11 days. Upon turning them on again, making no changes, backups donā€™t occur. The two computers that werenā€™t turned off for any significant period continue to follow their schedules.

#4

Can you check the value of the registry entry HKLM\Software\Duplicacy\Jobs? And then for each job id referenced by this entry, check the IsSchedule value.

If there is one job with the IsSchedule value set, the service should register a next backup at ... event when it resumes.

You can restart the service to make sure it reads the job configurations from the registry.

#5

The HKLM\Software\Duplicacy\Jobs entry contains " 1 2" (With the leading space, without the quotes.)

Both Job1 and Job2 have an IsSchedule value of 1.

I restarted the service (even though the PC has been rebooted a couple of times since April 28).

Waitā€¦ I just checked the logs and starting about 5 hours ago when this PC was turned on, both scheduled jobs are running! I made no changes; it started by itself.

I checked the other problem PC, and its scheduled backups are not running. Itā€™s HKLM\Software\Duplicacy\Jobs entry contains 1 2 also, and both Job1 and Job2 have an IsSchedule value of 1. Just like the first problem PC that is now working.

This is all too bizarre.

#6

And I can now report that the 2nd PC, the one with scheduled backups not working as of 5:08pm (ET) as noted in my previous post above, started performing its scheduled backups after 6pm.

So, at this point, both PCs are working. And the reason they started working is just as mysterious as the reason they stopped working five days ago. My confidence is shaken; Iā€™ll be checking my backup logs frequently for a while.

#7

How have things been going for you in thr meantime?

#8

Hello Christoph. Thanks for your interest!

Iā€™ve been checking backup logs regularly. Everything is performing well; schedules are always followed. I needed to restore some files from backup on a couple of occasions, and that worked well too. At the moment, Iā€™m pleased with Duplicacy.

2 Likes
#9

Iā€™m sorry to have to report that I took another trip, and the same thing happened. That is, a PC that I turned off for my, in this case, 15-day absence is no longer performing its scheduled backups after being turned back on.

Same as last time, the Duplicacy service is running. The PC has been restarted a couple of times; each time the Duplicacy service starts (status ā€œStartedā€) but no scheduled backups occur, as shown by the absence of log entries for the three days the PC has been turned on since my return.

I should say, again, that I know how to operate the Duplicacy GUI. That is, I know to always run the GUI as admin, always ā€œQuitā€ it from the system tray icon, and that I need to quit the GUI for the service to start back up. But in this case I have never opened the GUI since my return. When I left home, scheduled backups were being performed. All I did was turn off the PC, and turn it on again 15 days later.

(There is a difference from last time. Like last time, I turned off two PCs when I left home, and I turned both PCs on when I returned. But unlike last time, only one, not both, of the two PCs has failed to resume its scheduled backups.)

I really think there is a bug here. Has the software ever been tested using my scenario (PC off for 11-15 days, then turned back on)?

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#10

Can you list all events related to the Duplicacy service in Event Viewer since the last reboot to see if there was any Next backup time at xx:xx message or any error message?

#11

I think I figured out what was wrong. There is a bug on the code path for starting the service that clears the scheduler bit so the service canā€™t find any scheduled jobs. When the service is paused and resumed, a different code path is taken which handles the scheduler bit correctly. You can verify this by just restarting the service and you wonā€™t see the next backup time at event in Event Viewer, but if you pause and then resume the service (or equivalently start the GUI as administrator and then quit), that event will appear which means the jobs have been scheduled properly.

Iā€™ll upload a new 2.1.1 release tomorrow.

#12

The new 2.1.1 release (build 2dcdae) is now available for download. Please let me know if the fix works for you.

#13

Hmm. Iā€™m not sure your description matches what could have happened in my case to cause the misbehavior, but it might. My memory is error-prone.

First I will test my current Duplicacy GUI version to reproduce the bug according to your description. Then Iā€™ll install 2.1.1, test again, and report results (probably tomorrow).

Thanks!

#14

I tested on two PCs. One is Windows 7 32 bit, running v2.1.0, the other is Windows 10 64 bit running v2.1.0. I opened Services, right clicked on the Duplicacy service and selected "Restart." Then, instead of checking Event Viewer, I just waited to see if scheduled backups occurred and appeared in the logs folders. They did, and are continuing to do so.

Iā€™m not sure that I can test 2.1.1 for a fix, since I donā€™t observe the 2.1.0 bug as described by you. And, unless the bug acts intermittently, it isnā€™t the cause of my issue. When I returned from my trip, I turned a PC on. It booted, Duplicacy service started, but scheduled backups were not performed. I restarted the PC (not the service), and then scheduled backups resumed.

I restart all my PCs from time to time, and scheduled backups usually resume as expected. It appears that the only time scheduled backups donā€™t resume is if the PC has been turned off for a long period of time (in my case, about two weeks).

#15

@lphelan Is this working for you now?

#16

@Christoph About a month ago I noticed that backups had stopped in the same manner on one PC. But I had not upgraded that particular PC from 2.1.0 to 2.1.1. I did the upgrade, and itā€™s been fine since.

Be sure that I will post here if backups stop again!

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