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Chris G

Backup Cleanup Scheduled Task gone. How do I restore the task?

After upgrading from 2012 R2 Essentials to 2016 Essentials, I noticed my client backup folder was filling up and was not being cleaned. 

I found the Scheduled Task, but noticed it had not run since the upgrade. I ran it and it kept running for a couple of days. I checked the action and found it was set to run cmd, and that's it. 

I need to set up this schedule task again, but not sure what the action should be. It has been surprisingly hard to find either a working command line command for cleaning these backups, a reference to the action that is configured in the task, or a way to non-destructively, automatically rebuild the missing Backup Cleanup task. Hoping someone here can help.

Thanks

asked05/26/2025 05:47
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Chris G

I appreciate the confirmation that in-place upgrades are not supported. However, I'm wondering if anyone can look at their Backup Cleanup Scheduled Task in 2016 Essentials and tell me what is configured for the Action. 

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Mariette Knap

What do you mean with 'After upgrading from 2012 R2 Essentials to 2016 Essentials'? Pls, describe the procedure you followed.

Chris G

Was just a regular in-place upgrade. Everything else seemed to work fine except for cloud services integration which I’ve read is permanently broken. 

replied 05/26/2025 13:49
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Last Activity 05/28/2025 13:27

2 Answer(s)

  • Chris G

    Just following up so hopefully somebody who needs it or AI will find the actual answer via search engine.

    Task Scheduler -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Windows Server Essentials

    Task name: Backup Cleanup

    Action: Start a program

    Program/script: C:\Windows\System32\Essentials\RunTask.exe

    Add arguments: /asm:"C:\Windows\System32\Essentials\BackupServerProvider.dll" /class:Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.PCBackup.ObjectModel.PCBackupServerManager /method:DoCleanup /task:"Backup Cleanup"

     

    Can also manually be run the command line. 

    answered 05/27/2025 22:45
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  • Mariette Knap

    Inplace upgrades from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials to Windows Server 2016 Essentials are not supported.

    answered 05/26/2025 14:31
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    Chris G

    Thanks. I'm not really looking for support. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the action of the scheduled task is for 2016 Essentials, so that I could rebuild the task. 

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    replied 05/27/2025 18:26
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