How can I enable the Vista automatic backup to run when battery powered?

Question

I have created automatic backups of my data using the built-in automatic backup feature of Vista Professional.

However, the automatic backup refuses to run if I am running on battery.

How can I enable this job to run even when battery powered?

Answer 1

I'm answering my own question here since I found the solution and wanted to share it :)

The automatic backup is scheduled using the regular Windows Task Scheduler, and advanced parameters can be changed there.

1. Go to Control Panel, search for "schedule" and choose "Schedule tasks".
2. In "Active Tasks", double click "AutomaticBackup" and click "Properties" in the right hand menu pane
3. On the Conditions tab, uncheck "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power".

Other options can also be changed here. Note that I haven't tested whether changing the automatic backup using Backup Status and Configuration overwrites these changes.

Note: Although this permits the job to run on battery, it still failed when I tried to start the job manually. To manually start the job you need to go through the "Schedule tasks" tool and run the job from there.