Adding new member with dashboard in the way

[spike6579]

I run scheduled backups of several backup sets with V9.5 (fully up to date). On occasion the backup runs out of space and wants a new member added to the backup set. But I can't seem to do this because of the catch 22 of the dashboard. I need to get into the program to add the member but all I can do from the dashboard is relaunch, which aborts the backup. Is there a way around this?

[gjs]

The main Retrospect window is invisible when started by the Retrospect Launcher Service on Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista, because the launcher runs Retrospect under the local System account. Selecting the service's "Allow service to interact with desktop" option does not help, nor does changing the service to run as the logged in user, nor does Retrospect's preference "Always run Retrospect as the specified user".

 

The following works for me with Retrospect 11.5 on Windows 10 with Anniversary Update. Portions of this scheme have been suggested in several posts on this forum, but I thought a comprehensive summary might be useful.

 

I use Windows Task Scheduler instead of Retrospect Launcher to start Retrospect automatically. Retrospect is configured to run as the logged-in user (who has all permissions needed for backups), and the Task Scheduler is configured to run its task under that same user account. This enables Retrospect windows to appear normally on that user's desktop. Retrospect runs as if it had been started manually. I have not found any way to start it minimized or maximized.

 

There are several alternatives approaches:

 

1) Invoking Retrospect.exe with a "Run Document" argument opens the main window, runs that script and any waiting scripts, and either stays in Retrospect or exits (depending on Startup Preferences). I maintain backup schedules in the Task Scheduler, rather than in the Retrospect scripts. To switch to a different backup set, I must update the "Run Document" accordingly.

 

2) Invoking Retrospect.exe with no arguments opens the main window, runs any waiting scripts, and stays open when done. Scripts can have their own schedules, but the Trigger(s) in the Windows Scheduled Task must be set to start Retrospect at the corresponding time(s).

 

3) Invoking dashboard.exe works the same as 2), but opens the Dashboard window before the main window.

 

A Scheduled Task can have multiple triggers (start times) and can start multiple programs. Unfortunately, the programs run sequentially. If you want to start the Dashboard with alternative 1), you could have the task call a script which starts both Retrospect and Dashboard, or create a second task to start Dashboard a few seconds after the first.

 

Setup is a bit fiddly (especially Windows Task Scheduler), so here are some details (initial dots added to preserve indentation):

 

RETROSPECT PREFERENCES

 

. . Security

. . . . * Run Retrospect as the logged-in user

 

. . Startup

. . . . DESELECT: Enable Retrospect Launcher service

. . . . * Stay in Retrospect (If you want to review logs afterwards.)

. . . . . . or

. . . . * Exit (or others) (Works only with a "Run Document" argument.)

 

WINDOWS TASK SCHEDULER

 

. . Select Folder

. . (click right) > Create Task...

 

. . General

. . . . Name: (Enter a good one; it can't be renamed.)

. . . . When running the task, use the following user account:

. . . . . . < your Windows login id >

. . . . . . * Run only when user is logged on

. . . . . . * Run with highest privileges

 

. . Triggers

. . . . [New...]

. . . . . . Begin the task: On a schedule

. . . . . . * Daily (For example)

. . . . . . Start: < date > < time >

. . . . . . Recur every < n > days

. . . . . . * Enabled

 

. . Actions

. . . . [New...]

. . . . . . Start a program

. . . . . . . . Program/script

. . . . . . . . . . "< Retrospect install path >\Retrospect.exe"

. . . . . . . . . . . . (Starts Retrospect directly. Include the quotes.)

 

. . . . . . . . Add arguments (optional)

. . . . . . . . . . "< USERPROFILE >\Documents\...\Run < script name >.rrr"

. . . . . . . . . . . . (FULL PATH to "Run Document" for alternative 1). If blank, Retrospect starts and stays open.)

 

. . . . . . . . Start in (optional)

. . . . . . . . . . (Retrospect seems to ignore this, whether quoted or not.)

 

. . . . or

 

. . . . . . Start a program

. . . . . . . . Program/script

. . . . . . . . . . "< Retrospect install path >\dashboard\dashboard.exe"

. . . . . . . . . . . . (Starts Dashboard, which starts Retrospect.)

 

. . Conditions (Optional)

 

. . Settings (Optional)