Solved: “File History Service Is Not Accessible” Error

Are you bothered by the "File History Service is not accessible" error? This is one of the errors that makes Windows 10 File History not working. You can learn how to fix it from this article. A File History alternative is also provided to better protect your files.

By @Yuka Last Updated November 9, 2022

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 User Case

File History Service is not accessible

“I have Windows 10 on a desktop PC. I have been using File History to back up my data. Luckily today I checked the report and saw that no backups have been done since the 19th November. It is set to do backups every hour. I selected 'Run Now' to force a backup and got the message 'File History Service is not accessible'. I checked the external hard drive which holds the backups and it is up and running and I can view data on it using File Explorer. I have no idea what this message means nor what to do about it. Any suggestions? Thanks!”

- Question from Microsoft Community

The File History function on Windows 10 is used to back up your data and operating system files to your desired location. If something goes wrong, you can use these backup files to restore the operating system to the state it was in when you backed up the device.

Many users report after updating Windows 10 that Windows 10 File History not working on their devices, even if they set it to back up Windows regularly. The problem described by the user above is also one of the common errors that prevent Windows 10 File History from working properly.  Have you encountered the same error as the user above? How to fix this error on Windows 10? If you are interested, keep reading.

How to Fix “File History Service Is Not Accessible” Error

In this part, I will provide you with 2 ways to solve this error.

Solution 1. Enable File History and Windows Search Services

The message “File History service is not accessible” means that: the File History Service is not running. You could try this to fix this error:

  1. Press Win + R together to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type services.msc and press Enter.

  1. Double-click File History Service. Then, File History Service Properties window will pop up. Make sure the Startup type is Automatic and then click the Start button.

  1. Repeat step 3 to find the Windows Search Service and change the Startup type to Automatic and click Start.

Solution 2. Disable and Enable System Protection

You can try to disable and then enable system protection on Windows 10. Some users reported that after disabling and enabling system protection, they found that Windows 10 File History not backing up problem was fixed.

  1. Type Control Panel in the search box and open it. In all Control Panel items, locate and click on System and Security.

  1. Then navigate to System -> System Protection.

  1. In the System Properties window, choose a drive and click on Configure.

  1. Click on the “Disable system protection” button and apply the change. After a few seconds, turn on system protection again.

Safer and Faster File Backup Tool—AOMEI Backupper

Although Microsoft provides users with a built-in windows backup tool—File History, users report that different problems will always occur during use. In addition to the “File History Service is not accessible” error, “File History doesn’t recognize this drive” is another question that users frequently ask on forums.

As we all know, File History has few functions and it is prone to problems. In order to avoid these problems and better protect your files and system, I recommend you to use file history alternative for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP—AOMEI Backupper. The software is easy to operate and the page is concise. Its backup function is very comprehensive. You can backup files, system, partitions and disks on your computer. Take a look at what features it has.

✩ Different backup destinations: You can create a backup to a local disk, an external device (USB, HDD, SSD, etc.), a cloud disk, NAS or a network shared folder. ✩ 3 backup methods: The software provides you with different backup methods, including full backup, incremental and differential backup (Differential backup is available after upgrade). ✩ Schedule automatic backup: The software provides 5 schedule modes: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event trigger, USB plug in. For instance, you can schedule automatic backup files & folders to USB drive. The last two modes are available in advanced editions. ✩ More than just Backup: The software is embedded with more powerful functions besides Backup. Such as Clone, Sync, Restore and some useful tools. You can use it to migrate your data or system to external hard drives, wipe a hard drive for reuse, etc.

Stepwise Guide to Backing Up Files using AOMEI Backupper

Please download and install this freeware before creating a backup. The detailed steps for backing up files to an external hard drive are as follows.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive with computer and make sure it can be accessible.

Step 2. Launch AOMEI Backuper, click Backup in the left menu and then select File Backup.

Tip: If you have an AOMEI account, you can choose to backup files to AOMEI Cloud with the Cloud Backup feature. And it still offers you 1TB of free cloud storage in 15 days.

Step 3. Click Add File or Add Folder to select files you want to backup. You can select multiple folders/files to back up at once.

Step 4. Click the box below the arrow to select the external hard drive as the destination path to store the backup.

Step 5. (Optional) You can set special settings for your backup by clicking on the 3 options in the lower-left corner of this program.

▶ Options: Modify the backup image file by compressing, splitting, comment the image. Furthermore, enable email notification to get the email alert. You can also enjoy the backup encryption function in advanced editions.

 ▶ Schedule Backup: It allows you to automatically back up data on a regular basis, which can improve data security to a large extent.

 ▶ Backup Scheme: 3 backup methods are supported. You can also delete old backups to free up disk space while keep the latest backup versions (available on AOMEI Backupper Professional at least).

Step 6. After confirm all your settings, click Start Backup.

Final Words

This article provides 2 solutions to the “File History Service is not accessible” error. Hope you can get help after reading this article. But in order to save your time and energy, in order to prevent you from encountering these errors that make Windows File History not working, it is strongly recommended that you use AOMEI Backupper to back up your files and system. You can also use it to backup only new files to external hard drive. Download and try it now!