Scheduled task runs and stays active but no files written

[progmars]

I have just installed a new Windows 8.1 64 bit machine and installed FreeFileSync on it. I created a batch file which mirrors one folder to another.

When saving the batch file, I selected "Run minimized" and "close progress dialog" in the .ffs_batch creation dialog, and also set Handle errors to Ignore. So, FFS should not attempt to show any popup dialogs durign scheduled task, right?

I ensured that the batch file works by putting just one file in the source folder. When I double click the batch file, it works fine, the file gets copied. Then I deleted the target file for next tests.

Then I created a Scheduled task with action program specified as:
"C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe"
and Arguments as
"D:\Mirror_Media_test.ffs_batch"

I tried running it, and it shows Status=Running.
When I look in Task manager, I see two processes:

FreeFileSync.exe
FreeFileSync_x64.exe

but they just sit there without any CPU or I/O activity and no files are being written (actually, there is just one little text file to sync).

I tried different logon options for the scheduled task - with local account and password, without password, with SYSTEM account and different OS modes in Configure for dropdown - still no luck.

How to make FreeFileSync to work on Win64 8.1 ?

[Zenju]

I'd check the path to the ffs_batch file: "D:\Mirror_Media_test.ffs_batch"
Does it exists? Is D: a mapped network drive?

[progmars]

Thanks, Zenju, this was the case - D: was pointing to a remote location which at one point failed to connect.

I guess, then this might lead to a feature request - it would be great if FFS could detect that it has been launched without GUI being displayed and then throw some traceable error (Windows Event log etc.) and exit instead of getting stuck forever in background processes.

[Zenju]

I've updated FFS to show a service message in this case and additonally log to "LastError.log" which is probably the best it can do in the absence of the (not yet constructed) log file facililty and not yet evaluated user-settings containing the error handling policy.
Showing a message unconditionally should not be an issue in this context, since the kind of errors that can happen at this early stage are all very fundamental (e.g. incorrect command line syntax, user-config file failed to parse) and will be noticed when testing the task scheduler setup for the first time. Additonally FFS won't hang anymore since the service messages are shown asynchronously and served by the terminal session.

Here's the new beta:
[404, Invalid URL: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dl98vgenv6w27du/FreeFileSync_7.7_beta_Windows_Setup.exe]