{"id":6749,"date":"2019-04-09T06:44:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T13:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=6749"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:28:12","slug":"backup-and-sync-service-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/backup-and-sync-service-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A: What is the Status of my Backup and Sync Windows Service?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/qa-backup-and-sync-status.png\" title=\"Q &#038; A - Backup and Sync status\" alt=\"Q &#038; A - Backup and Sync status\" border=\"0\" ><\/div>\n<div class=\"blog-qa-question-box\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/quotes-transparent-21x21.png\">&nbsp;&nbsp;I&#8217;m trialing your product for running <a href=\"\/products\/AlwaysUp\/Apps\/RunBackupAndSyncWindowsService.html\">Google Backup and Sync as a service<\/a>. Is there any way to see what is the update status? All I see is the option to click the info and see how long the service has been running.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\">&#8212; Sharon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hi Sharon.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, no &mdash; there is no way for you to see exactly what Backup and Sync is doing through AlwaysUp.<\/p>\n<p>This is because AlwaysUp is a generic &#8220;application runner&#8221; designed to launch any program as a service. <\/p>\n<p>Once it launches your application, AlwaysUp will monitor the new process for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Excessive CPU usage<\/li>\n<li>High memory consumption<\/li>\n<li>Crashes<\/li>\n<li>Hangs<\/li>\n<li>Error messages<\/li>\n<li>Popup windows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can see some of these details by clicking the green &#8220;Running&#8221; circle on your application&#8217;s entry in AlwaysUp:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/googledrivesync-process-information.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Googledrivesync.exe process information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/googledrivesync-process-information.png\" title=\"Googledrivesync.exe process information\" alt=\"Googledrivesync.exe process information\" border=\"0\" ><\/a><\/div>\n<p>The list above contains almost everything AlwaysUp knows. Beyond those generic items, <b>AlwaysUp has no specific knowledge of the application it is running.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In your particular situation, AlwaysUp hasn&#8217;t a clue what Backup and Sync is supposed to do, and it doesn&#8217;t know how to check the status of the file synchronization. AlwaysUp doesn&#8217;t even know what file synchronization is! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>But while you won&#8217;t get help from AlwaysUp, there are other ways to see what Backup and Sync is up to&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">3 ways to check the status of Backup and Sync<\/h2>\n<h3><b>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;Check Backup and Sync&#8217;s tray icon<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>The easiest way to tell what Backup and Sync is doing is to activate its tray icon (<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/products\/AlwaysUp\/Apps\/backup-and-sync-tray-icon-16x16.png\" align=\"absmiddle\">). A helpful window will  pop up to show you recent notifications and activity:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/backup-and-sync-tray-icon-activity.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Backup and Sync tray icon activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/backup-and-sync-tray-icon-activity.png\" title=\"Backup and Sync tray icon activity\" alt=\"Backup and Sync tray icon activity\" border=\"0\" ><\/a><\/div>\n<p>But there is a problem. When Backup and Sync runs as a Windows Service, it operates in the background (on the <a href=\"\/WindowsServices\/FAQ.html#WhatIsSession0Isolation\">isolated Session 0<\/a>) and cannot display its trusty tray icon on your desktop.<\/p>\n<p>You have a couple of options to see the tray icon.<\/p>\n<p>First, you can stop Backup and Sync in AlwaysUp and run it normally on your desktop. If you don&#8217;t have a desktop or quicklaunch icon, you can start Backup and Sync by double-clicking this file:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Drive\\googledrivesync.exe<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Once you are done with the tray icon, exit Backup and Sync and return to AlwaysUp to restart the 24\/7 service.<\/p>\n<p>Or you could select <b>Application &gt; Restart &#8220;Googledrivesync&#8221; in this session<\/b> to have AlwaysUp restart Backup and Sync on your desktop:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/restart-googledrivesync-in-this-session.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Restart Googledrivesync in this session\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/restart-googledrivesync-in-this-session.png\" title=\"Restart Googledrivesync in this session (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Restart Googledrivesync in this session\" border=\"0\" ><\/a><\/div>\n<p>The tray icon will appear in a few seconds.<\/p>\n<h3><b>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;Check file synchronization activity on the Google Drive website<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t want to interrupt Backup and Sync on your computer, you can inspect <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/drive\/answer\/2409045\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Drive&#8217;s activity online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To see a list of recent uploads and other events:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>Open your web browser and go to <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/drive.google.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>On the left, click <b>My Drive<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>In the upper right, click the information icon to reveal the right panel<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>In the right panel, Click <b>Activity<\/b><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/google-drive-activity.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Google Drive activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/google-drive-activity.png\" title=\"Google Drive activity\" alt=\"Google Drive activity\" border=\"1\" ><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Watch out for new (or updated) files on your PC&#8217;s hard drive that are don&#8217;t show up in the activity stream. Those documents have not been uploaded to the cloud.<\/p>\n<h3><b>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dig into the local synchronization log file<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Backup and Sync tracks its activities in a text file. You can find the file in your AppData folder:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Drive\\user_default\\sync_log.log<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Be warned: the content is very technical!<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the file is to help Google&#8217;s engineers diagnose defects &mdash; not to give the rest of us a friendly view of file synchronization.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, we have found file useful in a couple of scenarios:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>To verify that Backup and Sync is doing anything at all. If nothing is logged in response to file and folder changes, the software may be dead.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>To see if Backup and Sync has recognized a new file. In this scenario, open the log and search for the new file by name.<\/p>\n<p>For example, this log entry suggests that Backup and Sync has identified and is about to upload our &#8220;AlwaysUpUserManual-March-2019.pdf&#8221; document:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/sync_log-activity.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"sync_log.log activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/sync_log-activity.png\" title=\"sync_log.log activity (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"sync_log.log activity\" border=\"1\" ><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The log file contains other goodies for the technically inclined&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top:20px;\">\nHappy synchronizing!<\/p>\n<!-- relpost-thumb-wrapper --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><!-- filter-class --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><style>.relpost-block-single-image, .relpost-post-image { margin-bottom: 10px; }<\/style><h3>You may also like...<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><!-- relpost-block-container --><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/how-to-setup-email\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"How to Setup Email from AlwaysUp\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/envelope-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">How to Setup Email from AlwaysUp<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/alwaysup-8-5-released\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"New Version\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/new-version-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">AlwaysUp 8.5: Run in Session at Boot, Switch To Session 0, and more<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/version-12-5-released\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"AlwaysUp 12.5: Dropbox fixes, Email improvements, AutoStartDelay and More\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/whats-new-2-150x150-1.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">AlwaysUp 12.5: Dropbox fixes, Email improvements, AutoStartDelay and More<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><!-- close relpost-block-container --><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><\/div><!-- close filter class --><\/div><!-- close relpost-thumb-wrapper -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;I&#8217;m trialing your product for running Google Backup and Sync as a service. Is there any way to see what is the update status? All I see is the option to click the info and see how long the service &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/backup-and-sync-service-status\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26,43,85,127],"class_list":["post-6749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alwaysup","tag-alwaysup-tag","tag-backup-and-sync","tag-google-drive","tag-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13457,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6749\/revisions\/13457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}