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WinCron® FAQ
This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support
staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and
presented here as questions.
How do I register WinCron?
Troubleshooting WinCron when run as a service
Why does WinCron still say Unregistered?
My Jobs don't fire, or they fire too soon.
How do I register WinCron?
All major credit cards are accepted.
With your registration, you will receive priority technical support and
first consideration for feature enhancements.
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Troubleshooting
WinCron when run as a service
- Question: I followed the User Guide, but my script does not
seem to be running/working.
Answer: First thing to do is look at the system tray on the taskbar.
You should see a little colored clock icon.
- I see no icon.
This means that WinCron was probably not registered as a system service
(correctly).
The correct syntax for registering WinCron as a system service is:
"WinCron -install"
After registering WinCron you will still need to start it by either
rebooting the computer or by using Control Panel/Services applet. -
I see a yellow icon.
This means that WinCron is in a startup state and has nothing to do. If
you see this yellow icon persist for more than a couple seconds, then
WinCron could not find the AutoRun.tab file. You may also see the Yellow
icon if it found the AutoRun.tab file, but it was flawed such that
WinCron could not parse it. Double click the yellow icon to show the
WinCron window. If the window is empty, there was no AutoRun.tab file
for WinCron to run. (Remember, this AutoRun.tab must be in the same
directory as WinCron.exe resides.)
If the WinCron window contains text, it is most likely describing an
error encountered while parsing the job. - I see a green icon.
This indicates that WinCron is running. This is a good thing as it
indicates that WinCron found the AutoRun.tab file and was able to parse
it. If you still suspect there is a problem, double click the green icon
to bring WinCron into the foreground. Read the status window to better
understand what is going wrong. If you see a message complaining that
something couldn't be found, then the problem is most likely that the
PATH for the "LocalSystem" account did not contain the directory of a
program you were trying to run. (The "LocalSystem" account is different
than your USER account when you login.) For more information on
incorrect PATH settings,
click here. - I see a red icon.
This indicates WinCron has stopped. This stopped condition is not
necessarily bad, it simply means that all of the jobs have run to
completion (not necessarily without error.)
Just as we did above, double click the red icon and read the WinCron
screen to find out if there were any errors
- Question: When I run WinCron from the command-line it is very
slow to start… and then it fails.
Answer: This happens when you have registered WinCron to run as a
service with the –install switch and then tried to launch it from the
command-line. This isn't a legal way to load a service.
If you have registered WinCron to run as a service and still want to run
it as an application, you need to specify the –application switch on the
command-line to tell WinCron what you are trying to do.
- Question: WinCron is running as a service but keeps complaining
that it cannot find the program I want to run.
Answer: The most likely cause of a failed script is that the syntax
of the AutoRun.tab was incorrect or the PATH for the "LocalSystem" account
did not have the directory of a program you were trying to run.
Keep in mind that each log-in account has it own environment. This means
that the PATH information for "JANES" log-in account is probably not part
of the "LocalSystem" account which is the account that WinCron logs itself
into.
To resolve this you need only add those directories which contain the
programs that you
want WinCron to find to the PATH variable for the system. You can
change it here:
Control Panel/System/Environment/System Variables.
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Why does WinCron still say Unregistered?
If you have registered WinCron (paid the shareware license fee) and are
running WinCron as an NT service, you will notice WinCron says that it is
unregistered.
This is because WinCron stores the license information in the Windows
Registry for the Current User. This Current User portion of the registry is
unavailable to WinCron when running as a service.
Solution: While running WinCron as an NT Service, simply reregister
it by entering your registration id into the registration dialog.
Your registered version of WinCron should now show that is is registered
when either run as a service or when run as an application.
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My Jobs don't fire, or
they fire too soon.
My job doesn't fire: If you have specified the the -start time using the
-time directive and your jobs fail to fire, then you have probably forgotten
the -inc directive.
You need the -inc directive when using -start -time xx:xx:xx because this
command is really just shorthand for today's date and the time you
specified.
The -inc directive will make sure that the -start time is bumped forword
(usually by one day) .
Solution:
#my sample recurring job
{
-start -time 3:10:00 AM
-action -print Okay, do stuff here
# increment the start time to fire tomorrow at the same time
-action -inc 1 0 0 0
}
My job fires too soon: If you use the above sample script as an example, you
will find that if you manually load and run it at 10:00 AM the the darn
thing will run right now! This is by design.
The reason it runs now is because as far as WinCron is concerned, the job is
past due. (Remember, when you use -start -time xx:xx:xx, this is really just
shorthand for today's date and the time you specified.)
So 10:00 AM is greater than 3:10:00 AM and the job fires.
Solution:
What you want in this case is a Window of Execution.
You can create a window of execution using the -constrain command.
So if for instance you wanted a small window of execution, say 5 minutes,
you would rewrite the above script as follows:
#my sample recurring job
{
-start -time 3:10:00 AM -constrain 0 0 5 0
-action -print Okay, do stuff here
# increment the start time to fire tomorrow at the same time
-action -inc 1 0 0 0
}
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