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Windows Task Schedular via command line : SCHTASKS

Windows Task Schedular via command line : SCHTASKS

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no2pencil

12 Feb, 2008 - 07:15 AM

Post #1

Windows Task Schedular via command line : SCHTASKS

Using this command, you can create, delete, edit, list, start or stop a scheduled task. This command also works on local or remote computers.

The command syntax is as follows:

CODE

   SCHTASKS /Create [Connect_Options] create_options

   SCHTASKS /Delete [Connect_Options] /TN taskname [/F]

   SCHTASKS /Query  [Connect_Options] [/FO format] [/NH] [/V]

   SCHTASKS /Run [Connect_Options] /TN taskname
   SCHTASKS /End [Connect_Options] /TN taskname

   SCHTASKS /Change [Connect_Options] {[/RU username] [/RP password] [/TR taskrun]} /TN taskname

Connect_Options:
    /S system                      #remote system (default is local)
       [/U username [/P password]] #submit job under this name

create_options:
    [/RU username [/RP password]]   #run job under this name
    /SC schedule [/MO modifier]     #When to run, see below
    [/D day]                        #day = MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI,SAT,SUN
    [/M months]                     #month=JAN,FEB,MAR,APR,MAY,JUN,JUL,AUG,SEP,OCT,NOV,DEC.
    [/I idletime]                   #1 - 999 minutes (ONIDLE task only)
    /TN taskname /TR taskrun        #Name and pathname for task
    /ST starttime                   #HH:MM:SS (24 hour)
    [/SD startdate] [/ED enddate]   # start and end date "dd/mm/yyyy"

options:
    /F    Force delete, ignore warnings even if the task is currently runnning.
    /FO format  Output format: TABLE, LIST, CSV
    /NH   No header
    /V    Verbose output

For monthly schedules, you must give the day as the number of the day. The default is one, & obviously the max is the amount of days in that month.

To prompt for the password, specify /RP * or /RP none

The User Account under which the Schedule service runs may require specific file access permissions, user permissions, and drive mappings.

For the system account, /RU username can be written as "", "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" or "SYSTEM", a Password is not required.

The schedule frequency is accessed via the /SC switch. The SC is short for schedule. Schedules can be set to time frames of minute, hourly, daily, weekly, or montly. You can also specify once, onstart, onlogon, or onidle for running the schedule once.

The /MO switch is short for modifier, & allows finer, more specific control.

QUOTE

MINUTE: 1 - 1439 minutes.
HOURLY: 1 - 23 hours.
DAILY: 1 - 365 days.
WEEKLY: weeks 1 - 52.
ONCE: No modifiers.
ONSTART: No modifiers.
ONLOGON: No modifiers.
ONIDLE: No modifiers.
MONTHLY: 1 - 12, or FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, LAST, LASTDAY.

Task Scheduler options are stored in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SchedulingAgent\

Examples:

Create a daily task to run at 11 pm

CODE

SCHTASKS /Create /SC weekly /D MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI /TN MyDailyBackup /ST 23:00:00 /TR c:\backup.cmd /RU MyDomain\MyLogin /RP MyPassword

Now delete the task:

CODE

SCHTASKS /Delete /TN "MyDailyBackup" /f

The SCHTASKS is equivalent to the Unix crontab.