Keeping the PC awake for a backup
What GBM AI does by itself to keep the PC awake while a backup runs, how it wakes a sleeping PC, and the Windows settings that decide whether it can.
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A backup needs the PC awake from the first file to the last. GBM AI takes care of the part it can: it keeps Windows awake while a run is going, and it can wake a sleeping PC for a scheduled run. Two things only Windows decides: whether wake timers are allowed, and what the lid and power button do.
While a backup or restore runs#
GBM AI asks Windows not to go to sleep until the backup or restore ends. Windows' own sleep timer is held off; the screen can still turn off. On PCs with Modern Standby, the backup keeps running while the screen is off.
The request only holds off the timer. You can still put the PC to sleep yourself: with Sleep in the Start menu, the power button, or by closing a laptop's lid. The run then stops with the PC and carries on when it wakes. If its drive or share dropped off while the PC slept, the run waits for it for up to 15 minutes.
When nothing is running, Windows' own sleep settings apply again.
To see the request while a backup runs, type powercfg /requests in a Command Prompt opened as administrator. GBM AI's agent is listed under SYSTEM.
Waking a sleeping PC for a scheduled run#
The schedule condition Wake the computer to run is on for new jobs. The PC wakes a minute before the run, so the disk and network are ready when it starts.
- In normal use, a Task Scheduler entry does the waking, for as long as you are signed in to Windows, whether or not the GBM AI window is open. If Task Scheduler does not answer, the condition is greyed out with (Task Scheduler unavailable on this PC).
- In service mode, the GBM AI service wakes the PC, with nobody signed in.
A wake timer wakes a PC that is asleep. It cannot switch on a PC that is shut down.
PCs with Modern Standby#
Most new laptops, and many desktops, sleep in Modern Standby. From that kind of sleep, Windows does not let a program's timer wake the PC: only the power button, the lid, the keyboard or the mouse do. A wake timer still wakes the PC from hibernation, which Windows often moves a sleeping PC into after a few hours.
On such a PC, GBM AI says so beside Wake the computer to run. Leave Run a missed backup as soon as possible on: the backup starts as soon as the PC wakes.
To check your PC, type powercfg /a in a Command Prompt. If the first list shows Standby (S0 Low Power Idle), the PC uses Modern Standby.
Allow wake timers in Windows#
Windows decides whether any program may wake the PC. If yours are off, Wake the computer to run does nothing.
- Open Control Panel ▸ Power Options.
- Next to your plan, click Change plan settings, then Change advanced power settings.
- Open Sleep ▸ Allow wake timers.
- Set it to Enable, for Plugged in at least.
Many laptops set Important Wake Timers Only, or Disable, when on battery. Important Wake Timers Only lets Windows wake the PC for its own tasks, such as restarting for an update, but not for GBM AI.
Laptops#
- Plug it in overnight. Skip if the computer is on battery is on for new jobs, so a laptop woken on battery waits for power.
- Mind the lid. Closing the lid usually puts the laptop to sleep, which pauses the backup. For backups with the lid closed, set Control Panel ▸ Power Options ▸ Choose what closing the lid does ▸ When I close the lid ▸ Plugged in to Do nothing.
- A laptop that is shut down, not asleep, at night cannot be woken. Schedule the job for a time it is on, and leave Run a missed backup as soon as possible on. See Missed runs.
After the backup#
If you want the PC to go back to sleep, or to shut down, when the backup ends, set When a backup finishes. See After a backup finishes: sleep, hibernate or shut down.