Restore from backup

By Thomas Underwood 🕘 Updated on June 17, 2021 at 9:00 pm

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As an enterprise-class Windows automation software, Automation Workshop features a built-in Backup and Restore functionality designed to help avoiding any data loss. In the case of unintended system failure, a part or the whole of Automation Workshop may become dysfunctional, if some of its files are corrupted.

However, with automatic backups there is no need to worry. Even complex configurations can be restored in a matter of minutes.

Prepare…

• Locate the most current (or the last good configuration) backup file, for example:
  Automation-Workshop-Backup-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-automatic.zip
Automation-Workshop-Backup-2023-12-21-23-05-00-automatic.zip
• Ensure that the whole system is running. If necessary, re-install Automation Workshop to the same path as before. If unsure, locate and extract backup archive and open LocalMachine.reg in the Notepad application and see the path value.
• When restoring from backup created on another OS (different Windows version), make sure that the path values in .reg files match actual paths on current OS.
• Extract the contents of backup archive into some folder. On older operating systems, a tool (such as 7-Zip or WinZip) that supports the Large archive option for zip archives is required.
• Depending on the settings of automatic backups, backup includes some or all of the following folders—Tasks folder (contains Task folders and files as well as the workshop.config file); Variables folder (contains global variables); Registry folder (contains Automation Workshop settings in LocalMachine.reg and CurrentUser.reg files); Logs folder (contains Automation Workshop log files).
• If unsure about the location of Automation Workshop Tasks folder, open the LocalMachine.reg file from the Registry folder in Notepad and see the TaskFilesPath value. Alternatively, check the Task files location option in the Tasks tab of Automation Workshop Options.
• Determine whether remaining Tasks (if still existent in Automation Workshop Task folders) do not functionally conflict with the Tasks that you are going to restore from the Tasks folder of the backup archive.

Restore…

Simple steps to restore Automation Workshop Tasks, Settings and Logs…

• Stop the Automation Workshop Service (in the Service tab of Options).
• Close Automation Workshop Manager.
• If the backup archive contains the most current versions of Task files, it is recommended to delete the contents of Automation Workshop Task folders, before putting the Tasks folder from the backup archive in its place. Note that workshop.config file contains some Task settings and also has to be copied to the Task folder.
• After restoring the Task Files folder, it is necessary to restore Automation Workshop settings. Go to the Registry folder of the backup and import LocalMachine.reg file.
• Import CurrentUser.reg file as well, if available. On systems with multiple Automation Workshop users, some less relevant user-specific settings like application window sizes or toolbar settings are stored separately in CurrentUser.reg file. Note that these settings do not influence the functionality of Automation Workshop.
• CurrentUser.reg file is stored only in manual backups and only for the user who performs the manual backup. To backup settings of all users, the manual backup has to be performed from each user account.
• Optionally, restore log files by copying the Logs folder files to Automation Workshop log folder.
• Run Automation Workshop Manager and, while the Service is not running, ensure that Task folders contain all the restored Tasks. During the Restore procedure the Tasks are imported in the same Task state (i.e., enabled or disabled) as they were at the moment of backup.
• Start the Automation Workshop Service (in the Service tab of Options).
• Congratulations! Automation Workshop is restored and fully functional again.

Conclusion

Restoring Automation Workshop in case of system failure is quite easy. Just stop the application (re-install if necessary), copy Task files, import .reg files into Windows registry and start the application again. Attention should be paid, however, to the following issues:

• The possible differences of current Tasks and these in the backup (especially if the backup file is rather old).
• The possible changes in infrastructure in general, especially, if the whole system has been re-installed. Make sure that all relevant paths are the same.
• If a Task has been run after creating the last backup, it is possible that it will be executed again after the restore. Identify and temporary disable such Tasks before starting the Automation Workshop Service.

Just ask…

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support team.