{"id":20284,"date":"2026-09-29T04:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T04:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?p=20284"},"modified":"2026-09-29T04:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T04:19:06","slug":"run-backupassist-jobs-command-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/run-backupassist-jobs-command-line","title":{"rendered":"How to Run BackupAssist Classic Jobs from the Command Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This guide explains how to launch BackupAssist Classic jobs from the command line, retrieve job ID numbers, and select the appropriate execution switch for ad-hoc, unattended, retry, or automated scenarios.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Assumptions:<\/strong> These instructions assume BackupAssist Classic v15 is installed in the default directory.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"command-syntax-and-location\">Command syntax and location<\/h2>\n<p>By default, the launcher executable is located in the BackupAssist v15 installation directory:<\/p>\n<pre><code>\"C:\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">P<\/span>rogram Files (x86)\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssist v15\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssistManualLauncher.exe\" &lt;JobNumber&gt; [Parameter]\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2 id=\"1-get-the-base-launch-command\">1. Get the base launch command<\/h2>\n<p>Open <strong>BackupAssist Classic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to <strong>Jobs \u2192 Overview<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Select the required backup job. For this example, our backup job is <strong><em>Blanco Svr to NAS<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Right-click the job, or open its context menu, and select <strong>Add desktop shortcut<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ba-web-content.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/manual-launcher\/backupassist-classic-add-desktop-shortcut.png\" alt=\"Add desktop shortcut button on the Jobs Overview screen in BackupAssist Classic\"><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Locate the shortcut on your desktop.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>Right-click the shortcut and select <strong>Properties<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>On the <strong>Shortcut<\/strong> tab, locate the <strong>Target<\/strong> field.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ba-web-content.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/manual-launcher\/backupassist-shortcut-target-manual-launcher-command.png\" alt=\"Shortcut Properties window with the Target field showing the BackupAssistManualLauncher.exe command and job number\"><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Copy the complete contents of the <strong>Target<\/strong> field. This is your <strong>base command<\/strong>. Proceed to <a href=\"#step-2\"><strong>Step 2. Choose how to run the job<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Target field should contain the path to <code>BackupAssistManualLauncher.exe<\/code>, followed by the job number.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3 id=\"alternative-method-manually-build-the-launch-command-from-the-job-number\">Alternative method: manually build the launch command from the job number<\/h3>\n<p>If you have direct access to the BackupAssist console, you can reveal the job ID, then combine it with the launcher executable path to create the same base command manually:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In <strong>BackupAssist Classic<\/strong>, navigate to <strong>Jobs \u2192 Overview<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Press <strong>Ctrl + D<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Each job will now display its assigned numeric ID beneath the job name or icon.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ba-web-content.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/manual-launcher\/backupassist-classic-job-id-numbers-ctrl-d.png\" alt=\"Job ID numbers shown under each backup job in BackupAssist Classic after pressing Ctrl + D\"><\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blanco Svr to NAS<\/strong> = job number <code>1<\/code><\/li>\n<li><strong>Blanco Svr to NAS \u2013 Test\u2026<\/strong> = job number <code>2<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Combine the job number with the default launcher path to form the base command:<\/p>\n<pre><code>\"C:\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">P<\/span>rogram Files (x86)\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssist v15\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssistManualLauncher.exe\" 1\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>After you have the base command, proceed to <a href=\"#step-2\"><strong>Step 2. Choose how to run the job<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"step-2\">2. Choose how to run the job<\/h2>\n<p>Open an elevated <strong>Command Prompt<\/strong> (Run as administrator), enter the <strong>base command from Step 1<\/strong>, and append the required parameter switch at the end.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<pre><code>\"C:\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">P<\/span>rogram Files (x86)\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssist v15\\<span class=\"hljs-symbol\">B<\/span>ackupAssistManualLauncher.exe\" 1 -i\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>If no parameter is provided, an interactive BackupAssist &#8211; Run now graphical user interface (GUI) will launch.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ba-web-content.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/manual-launcher\/backupassist-run-now-window.png\" alt=\"BackupAssist Run now window, which opens when the launcher runs without a parameter\"><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"parameter-options\">Parameter options<\/h3>\n<p><code>BackupAssistManualLauncher.exe<\/code> accepts several optional switches to control user interactivity and calendar impact:<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><strong>Command pattern<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Interactivity<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Consumes next scheduled slot?<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Best use case<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><code>...exe &lt;JobNumber&gt;<\/code><\/td>\n<td>Interactive; prompts the user.<\/td>\n<td><strong>Yes<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Interactive manual run.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><code>...exe &lt;JobNumber&gt; -u<\/code><\/td>\n<td>Unattended; silent.<\/td>\n<td><strong>Yes<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Unattended run intended to replace the next scheduled backup.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><code>...exe &lt;JobNumber&gt; -i<\/code><\/td>\n<td>Unattended; silent.<\/td>\n<td><strong>No<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/support\/en\/backupassist\/manage\/scripts.htm\" target=\"blank\">Automated retry<\/a> or catch-up run that preserves all future scheduled backups.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3 id=\"why-i-is-recommended-for-automation-and-retries\">Why <code>-i<\/code> is recommended for automation and retries<\/h3>\n<p>When using <code>-u<\/code> on a backup job with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/support\/en\/backupassist\/manage\/schedule.htm\" target=\"blank\">recurring daily schedule<\/a>, such as Monday to Friday at 10:00 PM:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If Thursday night&#8217;s 10:00 PM job fails and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/support\/en\/backupassist\/manage\/scripts.htm\" target=\"blank\">automated retry<\/a> runs on Friday at 11:30 AM with <code>-u<\/code>, BackupAssist allocates Friday night&#8217;s 10:00 PM slot to that midday run.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, <strong>Friday night&#8217;s scheduled 10:00 PM backup will be skipped<\/strong>. If another retry triggers, it begins consuming Monday&#8217;s slot from the following week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When using <code>-i<\/code> in the above scenario:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The catch-up run executes silently in the background.<\/li>\n<li>It logs as an ad-hoc run and <strong>does not consume any upcoming calendar slots<\/strong>. This ensures the next scheduled backup (Friday at 10:00 PM) still runs as planned without manual intervention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once executed, the process launches asynchronously and control returns immediately to the command prompt.<\/p>\n<p>For more automation options, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/scripting-in-backupassist\" target=\"blank\">Scripting in BackupAssist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Command prompt block: paste into a WordPress Custom HTML block --><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin:1.5em 0;background:#0c0c0c;border:1px solid #3a3a3a;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden\">\n<div style=\"background:#1f1f1f;color:#ffffff;font-family:'Segoe UI',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:1.4;padding:6px 12px\">Administrator: Command Prompt<\/div>\n<pre style=\"margin:0;padding:14px 16px;border:0;border-radius:0;background:#0c0c0c;color:#cccccc;font-family:Consolas,'Cascadia Mono','Courier New',monospace;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;white-space:pre\">C:\\Program Files (x86)\\BackupAssist v15&gt;BackupAssistManualLauncher.exe 1 -i\n\nC:\\Program Files (x86)\\BackupAssist v15&gt;<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In BackupAssist v15.0.4, <code>BackupAssistManualLauncher.exe<\/code> does not emit exit codes to indicate whether a job completed successfully, failed, or encountered errors.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"3-verify-job-completion\">3. Verify job completion<\/h2>\n<p>Because command-line runs execute asynchronously without command-line status output, verify execution status through the BackupAssist console:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Open <strong>BackupAssist Classic<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Navigate to <strong>Reports<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Review the latest generated report to confirm successful job completion and verify that no errors were encountered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a scheduled backup fails, the natural fix is to run it again, often automatically. But in BackupAssist Classic, the wrong command-line switch makes that retry take over the next scheduled backup, which then never runs. Mike Deaton, BackupAssist&#8217;s longest-serving technical support specialist, shows how to launch a job from the command line and which switch keeps your schedule intact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[771,95],"tags":[878,876,877,805,882,879,880,883,881,288],"class_list":["post-20284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backupassist-classic","category-guides","tag-backup-automation","tag-backup-retry","tag-backup-scheduling","tag-backupassist-classic","tag-backupassistmanuallauncher","tag-command-line","tag-command-prompt","tag-scripting","tag-unattended-backup","tag-windows-server"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Run BackupAssist Jobs from the Command Line | 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Over that time, he has worked through thousands of support cases, ranging from straightforward backup configurations to complex recovery situations requiring deep analysis of Windows internals. Having been on both sides\u2014as the administrator responsible for systems and the expert helping recover them\u2014he brings a practical, experience-driven perspective to every case. Mike\u2019s writing reflects that background. He focuses on the realities of Windows backup and recovery, including the edge cases, limitations, and failure points that are often overlooked in official documentation. His goal is to help system administrators understand not just how systems are supposed to work, but what actually happens when they fail\u2014and how to be prepared when it matters most. His articles are written for IT professionals who want the full picture\u2014beyond the marketing layer\u2014so they can make informed decisions and confidently handle critical situations. 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He began his technical career serving in the United States Marine Corps, working in Communications and Electronics with a focus on encrypted voice and data transmission systems\u2014an experience that established his disciplined, systems-level approach to technology. Following his military service, Mike spent five years as an Information Systems Technician and Network Administrator for a Japanese automotive manufacturing company. In that role, he was responsible for maintaining production-critical systems, where downtime wasn\u2019t theoretical\u2014it directly impacted operations. Working in that environment gave him firsthand experience with the pressure, urgency, and complexity that come with system failures and disaster scenarios. Since 2008, Mike has been part of BackupAssist, where he has served as both a technical support specialist and head of the global support team. 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