Windows 10: File History Windows 10: unable to specify C:\Users\my-account for backup

I am using a USB-attached drive for backup of a laptop. In the Backup Options panel for File History, under "Back up these folders", it shows C:\Users, C:\Users\my-account, and all subfolders of C:\Users\my-account. It does not show C:\Users\other-account, although on the backup device, there is a folder for other-account under ...\Data\C\Users this folder is almost empty, on account of the permissions of most of that account's files - and this is how it should be.


I hoped to regularize this by setting "Back up these folders" to just C:\Users\my-account. First, I removed C:\Users, and that cleared the list perhaps not surprising, given that everything else in the list was a subdirectory of C:\Users. Then, I attempted to add C:\Users\my-account to the list, but, although no warning was given, it was not accepted, and the backup list remained empty. I was able to return to the original state by adding back C:\Users.


Thinking that perhaps the presence of folders for the other users on the backup drive was preventing me from doing this, I thought that if I added all the other user's top-level folders to the exlude list, and ran a backup, this would remove them from the backup device, and this is what happened. However, I was still unable to add just C:\Users\my-account to the backup list. This situation persisted after a reboot, and after attempting to change the settings with File History turned off.


Is there anything I can do to get it to back up all of C:\Users\my-account, and only that, other than the combination of C:\Users with an exclusion for every other account?


The system is Windows 10 Home version 1909 build 18363.778.

:)

 

Unable to Backup / update File History

File History (FH) sometimes gives me problems. I reset it as follows:

1. Stop FH
2. Delete the FH configuration files at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration
3. Restart FH and select to use the same backup drive as before

 

Strange Windows 10 User Account issue.

Unfortunately I had done those steps numerous reboots, it just, reappears for no good reason. The base account isn't even a Microsoft account, it's a local account.

I haven't quite tried the built in administrator account on W10, but so far in my experience on my own computer, the built in account seemed to have absolutely no more control than I did on my own.

It's just strange, I go in, it warns me twice about deleting the account, then it's gone. Reboot, and it's back?

EDIT: Just to specify, both command line and Netplwiz both say only HIS account exists on the computer, it doesn't list this rogue account. This is what I meant in my first post about the fact that even Windows doesn't seem to believe it exists, HALF the time. *Frown

 

File History Backup Starts and Immediately Stops

EDIT: I was able to fix the problem by simply choosing to stop using my drive (option found in the backup settings) and creating a new backup on the same drive.

I periodically back up selected folders onto an external hard drive using File History on Windows 10, but I have been unable to do this for awhile. Now, when I click "Back up now", the backup will start and stop just a few seconds after, with the date of
the last backup (2/2/2017) not changing. I have tried several different steps to fix this problem, including the following:

• Performing a clean boot
• Running sfc /scannow and DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth in Command Prompt
• Restarting the appropriate services in services.msc
• Running MRT to perform a full system scan

Regardless of what I do, the problem still occurs. I checked event viewer, and noticed that, in the File History backup log, there were 2 errors on February 16th saying
"Unable to scan user libraries for changes and perform backup of modified files for configuration C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration\Config" with all attempts to backup afterwards showing errors saying
"Unable to start a backup cycle for configuration C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration\Config".

How can I fix this so that I can use File History as I normally would for backups?