How to start a specific program when another computer connects to the network?

I recently purchased a desktop in addition to the laptop I own. After a bad experience with lost pictures, I would like to automatically back up photos from the laptop to the desktop.

For this, I have set up a sync pair with Synctoy 2.1 (left folder=Images on laptop ; right folder=Images on desktop) and it works manually. I have found this link which deals with setting up a scheduled task. I tried fiddling a bit with that but no luck so far.

I do not want a solution of the type "Home Network" as I want to physically transfer pictures from one computer to another.

For all intents and purposes, here are a few additional pieces of information:

I mostly use my laptop such that it is often connected to the network via WiFi. In general, it is also connected to the network when the desktop is on. The desktop is connected via LAN.
Laptop runs Win10 64-bits and desktop runs Win7 64-bits.

The reason why I want a trigger of the type "when desktop connects to the network, run SyncToy on laptop" is because I don't want a task that will start with very little chance of success (as the desktop is not online often). The option of a trigger of the type "at session startup on the desktop, launch SyncToy and pump the pictures from laptop" is not preferred either since it will hog resources at startup. Since I don't use the desktop on a reliable basis (i.e. online time are rather random) I cannot set up a task at a specific time either.

Is there any solution given my restrictions and preferrences?

Thank you very much for your help.

user89073

Posted 2017-06-18T14:02:24.460

Reputation: 115

How about getting the desktop (when it is on the network) to write a file to the laptop and then a scheduled task on the laptop which only starts SyncToy when it finds that file? – Richard – 2017-06-18T15:01:28.960

that would be a good solution, yes. I guess it is possible to automate the writing/deleting process? – user89073 – 2017-06-18T15:24:01.440

Hi, I have Dropbox (12Gb) and Box Sync (50 Gb), Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. These solutions do not work as the space is limited and require the use of external servers. I would rather use a local method. – user89073 – 2017-06-18T18:57:28.133

I'm using Amazon's Drive photo myself as it is $69/a (I think) for unlimited. In the past I have used rsync and cron to achieve this. In this case perhaps you could create an rsync script to run at startup on the laptop - it would check for differences, then sync changes them to the destination machine / directory. – Josh – 2017-06-18T20:57:11.753

Thank you, I will try that, although I am not comfortable with scripts. – user89073 – 2017-06-19T11:46:21.267

How to start a specific program when another computer connects to the network?

Answers