Solved: Cobian Backup “The Engine Is Not Found” Error

The Error: "The engine is not found" in Cobian Backup

Cobian Backup was a free, donation-supported backup software for Microsoft Windows. It can be used to make automatic backups for your directories and files from original location to some other location in the same computer, to the network and even to an FTP server. Cobian Backup can be run as a service or as a regular application. What’s more, this program supports compression, encryption, incremental and differential backup currently. In the process of using this software, users often encounter some problems. The following is one from forum.

"The engine is not found" in Cobian Backup

“Has anyone had problems using Cobian 11? I have been using Cobian 11 for a couple of years to back up every day's work to an external WD "Passport" hard drive. It rarely fails. A few days ago, the Cobian Backup software is disabled every morning when I fire up the computer. I keep getting the error massage “engine is not found”. I have had to do a quick partial reinstall of Cobian every evening, to cure this error. It does not take long, but is tedious to do every evening, only to find the same problem next morning. Any solutions or suggestions, please?”

- Question from Avast Forum

Solutions to Cobian Backup “Engine not found” Error

The latest product of Cobian Backup is Cobian Backup 11 (Gravity), which supports Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. Many users have encountered the “Engine Not Found” error under different circumstances when using it. The above user case is just one of them.

If you get the error “The engine is not found” followed by “The engine has been found”, then this is a completely normal event. When the user interface is started, Cobian Backup checks to see if the engine (the service) is started. It may take some time for the service to start after the computer starts, so you can ignore this error.

However, if you receive this error message "Engine is not found" without any other prompts, and the mushroom in the tray has a light red background, then you have a problem. There are several reasons for this problem, and the corresponding solutions are as follows.

♨ Case 1. If the program is installed as a service, then this means that the service has not been started. This is often caused by a login error. If the service is set up to start under some account, and you enter the wrong password then you will find the description of the error in the EventViewer.

Solution: Just re-enter the User name and input the correct password and restart the service. This can be done from the control panel or from the user interface (Options-General-Service and Application control).

♨ Case 2. Another possibility is that you try to start the service under an account with a blank password. The default policy in some versions of Windows is not to start the service with a blank password.

♨ Case 3. If the "engine not found" error suddenly appears after the program has been running normally for a period of time, it may be that you have changed the password of the account that runs the service.

Solution: Just re-enter the new password in Options-General-Service and Application control and restart the service.

♨ Case 4. Another possibility is that the service (or the application engine) is crashing for some reason.

Best Free Cobian Backup Alternative—AOMEI Backupper

If you still cannot solve your problem after trying the above operations, I recommend you to use the best free Cobian Backup alternative—AOMEI Backupper Standard. As a Cobian Backup alternative, it enables you to perform compression, auto backup, full/incremental/differential backup and so on. And it runs smoothly on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP without any errors.

With AOMEI Backupper, you are allowed to sync files to different storages, such as USB drive, network location, NAS device, or cloud drive and so on. You can also use it to sync files between laptop and desktop. It also enables you to configure a scheduled sync task to run file sync automatically and periodically at a regular basis to secure your data.

Besides, AOMEI Backupper can back up all kinds of files including photos, documents, videos and more. And you can use it to do system backup. When some accidents happen, you can use this backup to easily restore your computer.

Step by step guide to copy files via AOMEI Backupper

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and launch it.

Step 2. In the left panel of this program, click “Sync” and select “Basic Sync”.

Tips✍:
(All the following features are available in the advanced version, you can check them to see if they are more suitable for your needs. If so, please consider upgrading.)
Real-Time Sync: it will monitor the files or folders in real-time and sync any detected changes from source to destination immediately.
Mirror Sync: it will sync files and its changes to destination, delete the newly added files and overwrite the changes made in the destination.
Two-Way Sync: it will sync files from source to destination, and then detect changes and reflect them in both locations.

Step 3. Click "Add Folder" to select the folder which you want to synchronize. If you want to synchronize multiple folders, click the “plus” icon.

Step 4. (Optional) You can click the "funnel" icon to open the "Filter Settings" after you add the source folders (available in Professional edition and higher).

Step 5. Select a destination location to store the folder. You can choose a local path, a network location or a cloud drive.

Step 6. Confirm all your settings and then click "Start Sync" to perform the operation.

★ How to backup files to AOMEI Cloud

There is a growing trend to backup files to cloud storage. You can backup files to AOMEI Cloud if you have an AOMEI account. You'll get 1TB free storage for 15 days after you sign up for an AOMEI account.

Conclusion

After reading this essay, you may have resolved the problem of Cobian Backup “The engine is not found”. If not, you can try the alternative mentioned in the article. The alternative—AOMEI Backupper is more convenient, more concise, and more comprehensive.

In addition to the synchronization function, you can also experience its clone, backup and restore functions for free. This software can make your data migration process simple, just a few clicks. Try it to migrate Kingston SSD data or transfer WD Blue SSD data, etc.