Robocopy fails in Scheduled task with ERROR 1326 Logon failure

batchrobocopyscheduled-taskwindows-server-2008

My aim: To simply mirror a database backup directory onto another server

Approach: Use Robocopy statement contained in a scheduled task

robocopy "C:\MylocalDirBackup" "\\MY.IP\DatabaseBackupsShare"  /mir /z /log:"C:\MyLocalDIR\RobocopyTestLog.txt"

Environment:

  • Windows Server 2008R2
  • Scheduled task user "MylocalUser": Local adminon local machine
  • Network config: Both servers on workgroup

Tests:

  • navigate to share \MY.IP\DatabaseBackupsShare as "MylocalUser" –
    success, no prompt for credentials
  • Run robocopy command from command line when logged on as
    "MyLocalUser" – success

The Problem!:
When running Robocopy command from a scheduled task the following error is raised:

2013/10/22 20:04:57 ERROR 1326 (0x0000052E) Accessing Destination Directory \\MY.IP\DatabaseBackupsShare\ Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

I found several other people who are having similar problems, and followed suggestions here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/b591346e-3ed0-4ed1-9453-24851ebe1bb1/scheduling-robocopy-to-run-at-system-startup?forum=ITCG

Any help gratefully received. I thought this was going to be a quick task…

Best Answer

When I was doing something similar, I was unable to get it to work without first mapping the drive.

Action 1 in Task Scheduler:

net use z: \\MY.IP\DatabaseBackupsShare mypass /user:myuser

Action 2 in Task Scheduler:

robocopy "C:\MylocalDirBackup" z:  /mir /z /log:"C:\MyLocalDIR\RobocopyTestLog.txt"

Because you're storing the password--ew--use an unprivileged account rather than an admin and give that account a strong password, the least possible privileges for the task, etc.