Thanks for the article; I would like three programs to run automatically (and in a particular order) when a trigger is activated.
When the task is triggered, the first program on the list runs (as it should), but then nothing else happens. When I close the program that opened, the second program opens, and then nothing happens – the third program still has not run at this stage. Then, when I close the second program, the third opens. After closing the third program, nothing happens – the task has been completed… not exactly what I had in mind…
Is there a way to make all three programs open instantly, one after the other – all in the space of one second-or-so?
Yes there is. You must make a .bat file (a simple .txt file saved as .bat in the name of the file, save as “all files” option) containing the instructions to open the programs such as this:
Then you schedule this file instead of the programs.
However, this will open all the 3 programs in the same moment, so you should insert between each row a command to delay the start of the next command (google it).
Bye,
manuel
Tez
12 years ago
Hi Manuel.
I have set a task to run in my scheduler: I want it to open a text document each night to remind me to do something. I have experimented extensively with this and have had no joy – settings are as follows:
General: Name: Reminder
Location:
Author: Tez (<- Administrator Status)
Description: (blank)
Set to Run whether user is logged on or not
Run with Highest Privileges is ticked
Hidden is NOT ticked
Triggers: Set to run every day at 8:30 PM
Actions: Start a Program: c:windowssystem32notepad.exe
Added Argument: c:UsersTezDocumentsreminder.txt
Conditions: (None Set)
Settings: Allow task to be run on demand is ticked
Stop the task if it runs longer than: '3 days' is selected
Force to stop is ticked
If running, Do Not start a new instance is selected
Now, I have tried the actions line in a command prompt and they in fact start my reminder.txt - it appears in notepad on the desktop as I would like(which is the desired result!).
If I watch as the time trigger passes, refreshing the status shows that the task is "running" but no notepad appears and hence no reminder.
Task manager shows no instance of Notepad, even though Task Scheduler says it is currently "running"
- I can end the task and it changes back to ready. - Still no notepad appears! - If I then review tasks that have "run" in the last 24 hours, the report is blank.
Since the rminder is a one-line text document, I've even tried setting the task action to open a message, but that does not appear on the screen either
Any assistance would be helpful - this is doing my head in! - Task Scheduler under WinXPPro was o much simpler and reliable!
Change it to run with a user instead of “Set to Run whether user is logged on or not”. If you are telling to run with any user, it doesn’t know which user to display the window.
Shan leatherman
12 years ago
Great job on the documentation. I’m embarrassed to even ask this because the task scheduler seems so straight forward but I’m struggling to get an access program that has been running under os 2003 scheduler to run in Windows 7 task scheduler. The area I’m wondering about is the action tab. I browse to the Access program which resides on a different server to run a daily report. Each time I attempt to run I receive invalid directory despite my navigating directly to it. Any suggestions on anything else I could try? Thanks in advance for your help
Shan
Why don’t you try to create the task to run that program directly on the computer on which it resides?
This will eliminate complications with running a remote program, on another computer on the network.
While your suggestion has merit, we currently have 18 schedule jobs that run various updates or reports daily in our 2003 scheduler. We really like the convenience of checking this separate computer set up specifically to run jobs and as a backup computer. We can see at a glance if there are any problems. If we moved all our scheduled jobs to the SERVER that houses the code we wouldn’t be as aware if problems arose and things weren’t running with out physically remoting into the server each day. We have logic to send messages if problems but sometimes you aren’t aware if other problems occur. Today we can quickly glance to see if something is hung or there was an issue. I tried copying the access program to the Windows 7 computer I’m trying to set up Scheduled tasks on to see if that would resolve it and got the error > %1 is not a valid win32 application. While the task scheduler seems to runs .exe and .bat files fine I’m wondering if its unable to run .accb Win 7 Access programs? Just doesn’t seem like it should be this difficult to set up.
Shan
Do you have Access installed on the Windows 7 computer where you are trying to run the program?
Shan Leatherman
12 years ago
Yes. Since we’re moving to Office 10, its the computer we are using to convert all the 2003 Access programs to 2010 Access.
Robert Oetzel
11 years ago
One job triggered by four events (logical conjunction)
Hi Florina,
thank you for this great article.
My case is: I have four jobs running parallel, all startet by 19:30,
and there is a fifth job, which should start after the other four have finished.
Now, I created events at the end of the four jobs, but I cannot
set up the fifth, to start on the end of ALL events (logical AND).
It starts on ANY event (logical OR).
Is there a chance ?
Kind Regards
Robert
Wendy
11 years ago
Florian,
I would suggest some further English language study. You need work on articles and past tense.
1. The name is Florina, not Florian. Shey’s lady, not a guy. 🙂
2. I have read the article and made many improvements to it. The quality should be improved now.
3. Thanks for the feedback.
Ciprian
Ramesh
11 years ago
Hi,
I have one task scheduler and i am getting the error like “Task Schedular are unable to process some application, error code is 267014”
Can any one help me to solve this problem.
Ramesh Sharma
11 years ago
What is the functionality of the option “Stop all running tasks at end of repetition duration” under the “Advanced setting” under “Trigger” tab.
Chaitanya K
10 years ago
I am working on Network i want to apply the EXE for few Systems (Required Systems) to Run the EXE.
Pete Brake
10 years ago
New to the scheduler. Trying to automate cleandisk. How do I program responding to Cleandisk prompt to delete files found?
Thanks.
Atul Abrol
10 years ago
Hello –
Thanks a lot for your article .
Is it possible to use scheduler to –
Wake up my computer from sleep mode
Open my account on a website
Click a tab that says my ‘Calendar is upto date ‘
You need to make a script that opens your account on a website and clicks whatever you want. Then, make a task that runs the script.
Mike
10 years ago
Hello,
I’m trying to figure out to make task scheduler send an email when a specific task or tasks have not run in 24 hours and I’ve had no luck with it. Is this something can be done?
Steven Hernandez
10 years ago
Hello,
I want to use the Task Scheduler to open an Excel file. The Excel file contains a macro that automatically runs when the file is opened. At the end of the routine the macro saves the file and closes the Excel application using the following commands:
>ThisWorkbook.Save
>Application.Quit
When I open this excel file in a normal way, such as double-clicking on the file, the macro runs successfully and Excel closes. However, when I use the Task Scheduler to open the excel file, the Excel Application does not close when the routine is finished.
Note that I’ve tried using the Task Scheduler to open this Excel file on other computers that are running the 64 bit version of Windows 7 and it works flawlessly. I’m only having this issue on a computer that is running the 32 bit version. Any ideas?
Thanks for such a great article…
I need to run a bath script when the user login for first time only one time for the first login only. Right now script runs every time the user login and logof. how to stop the script when the user login for 2nd time.
How to accomplish this. i am really in trouble. plz help.
Stoex
10 years ago
I’m using Task Scheduler to open a spreadsheet in MS Works. I know how to get this far and everything works.
I now want Task Scheduler to also print the spreadsheet, but cannot find the correct command/argument to include with the above opening. I have searched the internet & got countless dead end leads.
Joe Markakis
10 years ago
Hello, thanks a lot for providing this article. I’d like to ask…is it possible to schedule a task that will run a batch file whenever a specific program (.exe) is found to be running? Thanks again!
Great question! We don’t know the answer. We will try to investigate and, if we find something, we will come back with a tutorial on this subject.
Joe Markakis
10 years ago
Thanks for your prompt reply Ciprian Adrian Rusen!
Paul B
10 years ago
Hi Ciprian, thanks for the article – very helpful.
Can I use a variable instead of a username to allow another user to import a task without editing it? At the moment once they import the task it asks for the task author’s credentials.
How do I change the password entered when the task schedule was first set up to a new one? (my organization requires passwords to be changed every 90 days)…the old one no longer works for my task and I need to change it to my new one. How do I do this?
Tia
Dale Corning
10 years ago
I have entered a program into the schedule to be run every day at 08:15. The program starts with reading an .ini file from it’s default directory. It can not find this file. The scheduler allows me to browse over to the file to execute it but the default directory is not changed. Is there a way of either changing the default directory or a defined place to store the .ini?
jraju
10 years ago
Hi, what about arguments and parameters in the action schedule, that is when browsing target exe for a program. Would you elaborate on this aspect. Is it meant to trigger the inside exe, in the main exe, for ex. if a program has option 3 for user to select, would it be something to do with this?
lisa
10 years ago
Hi,
I am trying to use task scheduler to play an audio clip (1min) once at a given time daily. I just wanted to check that this would be possible as I managed to set it up so that the clip was played at the requested time however I could not stop the clip from being played on repeat. If this is possible I would very much appreciate any advice on how I can get the task scheduler to achieve this.
Thank you.
sumant
10 years ago
I want to start scheduled task after change in any file event happen. E.g. if i open any excel file made any change & save. I want start after close this file.
ngd
9 years ago
On disconnect from user session with “only remote user” doesn’t work correctly on Windows 8.1. It works great on windows 7.
The event is fired on both local and remote disconnects
JP TARDIF
9 years ago
Hello Ciprian Adrian Rusen,
Is there a possibility to create a trigger that tells my program to start when a file is saved at a precise location? Because my program is dependent of another program run before by someone else.
That requires some scripts, it is too advanced for a mere task scheduler.
john
9 years ago
When i try to save a new task it asks for account name and password.
I give the only account’s name from the control panel accounts page (which happens to be my email address) and is an administrator, and it says “specified account name not valid”
Manish
9 years ago
Hi,
I want that an excel file show as popup when I unlocks my computer, because everytime i unlock the computer, i have to update the excel file without delay.
Please help
Gayathri
9 years ago
I am trying to schedule a task to Google Analytic s report (url) download to a local folder. I have google analytics userID and passward to configure and download report. How can I do that. Can you please help with the steps/code for this please. please. please…
Deepak
9 years ago
thanks for sharing. i have question. what is maximium length of argument that can be passed to a program ?
Jones Acton III
9 years ago
I suggest an edit to the “The available Advanced settings” section that points out a user is not actually limited to the defaults (30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.) of the drop-down dialog’s list when setting a time delay for a given task’s trigger(s). When the “Delay task for:” box is checked, one may highlight the time selection displayed and change it to the desired number of minutes.
Enrique
9 years ago
Hi
I have a question is possible do the next if i have a program and for some reason I close this for error show me a pop up ask me If i really want close the program?
erfan
9 years ago
Hi
I want to run a batch file that includes a ‘myfile.exe’ and ‘text input file’ with the task scheduler in win7. But When the task scheduler execute , Run has been stopped and I face the following error in cmd:
‘myfile.exe’ is not recognized an internal or external command, operable program.
please help me
regard
Michael
9 years ago
Is there anyway to close a window once the task has been run without creating a batch file. I created a task that runs and at the end of the task I would like the window that opens to close automatically. Is there an augment that I can put in my scheduled task so that it does this. Please help
SUE
9 years ago
Hi
i have task scheduler running on my computer running for hours sometimes and it really affects my CPU (i think this is the cause) i have never recreated these tasks (unknownly if i have). can i delete these tasks and start again as and when i realise i need certain ones, i dont know why they are running to be honest
secretary sue
Bob Pfeiffer
8 years ago
Is there a way to run a task when a certain log file contains some keywords (like ‘ERROR’)?
Excelent explanation about Tasks. I’m wondering how the arguments must be declared in the specified field; For example, I created a task which starts a script “open cmd.exe” and I want use the following argument: echo “Hello World”, but, when the task is executed, it only opens the cmd.exe, but no arguments has shown on the screen.
What I’m doing wrong?
A
5 years ago
I want play a song in wma, but I want the wma window not shown, or at least to close when done. But wma window opens and stays there.
Shan
5 years ago
I have a number of schedules tasks which run every day. 2 of these jobs are import jobs and I want to pause/stop all other jobs from running whenever these 2 jobs have failed/unsuccessful as these jobs require data from the import.
Even if these 2 jobs fail, I receive an email to say these have been unsuccessful. However, the other tasks continue to run and I receive e-mails to say these have been successful even though the information these reports contain are wrong.
Is there any way to stop/pause tasks if they are dependent on another task?
Jesslyn
5 years ago
Advanced Tasks tutorial that doesn’t explain all the fields. Not good.
GB
4 years ago
If a task runs every day from 11:19 every hour for 1 day what does that actually mean?
Does it mean that the tasks starts at 11:19 each day until the end of the day, or does the 1 day means 24 hours, any therefore would complete at 11:19 to following day, but start again due to the fact it repeats every day?
Hi There,
Thanks for the article; I would like three programs to run automatically (and in a particular order) when a trigger is activated.
When the task is triggered, the first program on the list runs (as it should), but then nothing else happens. When I close the program that opened, the second program opens, and then nothing happens – the third program still has not run at this stage. Then, when I close the second program, the third opens. After closing the third program, nothing happens – the task has been completed… not exactly what I had in mind…
Is there a way to make all three programs open instantly, one after the other – all in the space of one second-or-so?
Thanks,
Will
Yes there is. You must make a .bat file (a simple .txt file saved as .bat in the name of the file, save as “all files” option) containing the instructions to open the programs such as this:
start C:etcetc.program1.exe
start C:etcetc.program1.exe
start C:etcetc.program1.exe
Then you schedule this file instead of the programs.
However, this will open all the 3 programs in the same moment, so you should insert between each row a command to delay the start of the next command (google it).
Bye,
manuel
Hi Manuel.
I have set a task to run in my scheduler: I want it to open a text document each night to remind me to do something. I have experimented extensively with this and have had no joy – settings are as follows:
General: Name: Reminder
Location:
Author: Tez (<- Administrator Status) Description: (blank) Set to Run whether user is logged on or not Run with Highest Privileges is ticked Hidden is NOT ticked Triggers: Set to run every day at 8:30 PM Actions: Start a Program: c:windowssystem32notepad.exe Added Argument: c:UsersTezDocumentsreminder.txt Conditions: (None Set) Settings: Allow task to be run on demand is ticked Stop the task if it runs longer than: '3 days' is selected Force to stop is ticked If running, Do Not start a new instance is selected Now, I have tried the actions line in a command prompt and they in fact start my reminder.txt - it appears in notepad on the desktop as I would like(which is the desired result!). If I watch as the time trigger passes, refreshing the status shows that the task is "running" but no notepad appears and hence no reminder. Task manager shows no instance of Notepad, even though Task Scheduler says it is currently "running" - I can end the task and it changes back to ready. - Still no notepad appears! - If I then review tasks that have "run" in the last 24 hours, the report is blank. Since the rminder is a one-line text document, I've even tried setting the task action to open a message, but that does not appear on the screen either Any assistance would be helpful - this is doing my head in! - Task Scheduler under WinXPPro was o much simpler and reliable!
Change it to run with a user instead of “Set to Run whether user is logged on or not”. If you are telling to run with any user, it doesn’t know which user to display the window.
Great job on the documentation. I’m embarrassed to even ask this because the task scheduler seems so straight forward but I’m struggling to get an access program that has been running under os 2003 scheduler to run in Windows 7 task scheduler. The area I’m wondering about is the action tab. I browse to the Access program which resides on a different server to run a daily report. Each time I attempt to run I receive invalid directory despite my navigating directly to it. Any suggestions on anything else I could try? Thanks in advance for your help
Shan
Why don’t you try to create the task to run that program directly on the computer on which it resides?
This will eliminate complications with running a remote program, on another computer on the network.
While your suggestion has merit, we currently have 18 schedule jobs that run various updates or reports daily in our 2003 scheduler. We really like the convenience of checking this separate computer set up specifically to run jobs and as a backup computer. We can see at a glance if there are any problems. If we moved all our scheduled jobs to the SERVER that houses the code we wouldn’t be as aware if problems arose and things weren’t running with out physically remoting into the server each day. We have logic to send messages if problems but sometimes you aren’t aware if other problems occur. Today we can quickly glance to see if something is hung or there was an issue. I tried copying the access program to the Windows 7 computer I’m trying to set up Scheduled tasks on to see if that would resolve it and got the error > %1 is not a valid win32 application. While the task scheduler seems to runs .exe and .bat files fine I’m wondering if its unable to run .accb Win 7 Access programs? Just doesn’t seem like it should be this difficult to set up.
Shan
Do you have Access installed on the Windows 7 computer where you are trying to run the program?
Yes. Since we’re moving to Office 10, its the computer we are using to convert all the 2003 Access programs to 2010 Access.
One job triggered by four events (logical conjunction)
Hi Florina,
thank you for this great article.
My case is: I have four jobs running parallel, all startet by 19:30,
and there is a fifth job, which should start after the other four have finished.
Now, I created events at the end of the four jobs, but I cannot
set up the fifth, to start on the end of ALL events (logical AND).
It starts on ANY event (logical OR).
Is there a chance ?
Kind Regards
Robert
Florian,
I would suggest some further English language study. You need work on articles and past tense.
Wendy,
1. The name is Florina, not Florian. Shey’s lady, not a guy. 🙂
2. I have read the article and made many improvements to it. The quality should be improved now.
3. Thanks for the feedback.
Ciprian
Hi,
I have one task scheduler and i am getting the error like “Task Schedular are unable to process some application, error code is 267014”
Can any one help me to solve this problem.
What is the functionality of the option “Stop all running tasks at end of repetition duration” under the “Advanced setting” under “Trigger” tab.
I am working on Network i want to apply the EXE for few Systems (Required Systems) to Run the EXE.
New to the scheduler. Trying to automate cleandisk. How do I program responding to Cleandisk prompt to delete files found?
Thanks.
Hello –
Thanks a lot for your article .
Is it possible to use scheduler to –
Wake up my computer from sleep mode
Open my account on a website
Click a tab that says my ‘Calendar is upto date ‘
You need to make a script that opens your account on a website and clicks whatever you want. Then, make a task that runs the script.
Hello,
I’m trying to figure out to make task scheduler send an email when a specific task or tasks have not run in 24 hours and I’ve had no luck with it. Is this something can be done?
Hello,
I want to use the Task Scheduler to open an Excel file. The Excel file contains a macro that automatically runs when the file is opened. At the end of the routine the macro saves the file and closes the Excel application using the following commands:
>ThisWorkbook.Save
>Application.Quit
When I open this excel file in a normal way, such as double-clicking on the file, the macro runs successfully and Excel closes. However, when I use the Task Scheduler to open the excel file, the Excel Application does not close when the routine is finished.
Note that I’ve tried using the Task Scheduler to open this Excel file on other computers that are running the 64 bit version of Windows 7 and it works flawlessly. I’m only having this issue on a computer that is running the 32 bit version. Any ideas?
Hello, thanks for this site.
Can I schedule an external program call….ie. the action to be
http://www.mysite.com/directory/program.php
Many thanks,
Rick
Thanks for such a great article…
I need to run a bath script when the user login for first time only one time for the first login only. Right now script runs every time the user login and logof. how to stop the script when the user login for 2nd time.
How to accomplish this. i am really in trouble. plz help.
I’m using Task Scheduler to open a spreadsheet in MS Works. I know how to get this far and everything works.
I now want Task Scheduler to also print the spreadsheet, but cannot find the correct command/argument to include with the above opening. I have searched the internet & got countless dead end leads.
Hello, thanks a lot for providing this article. I’d like to ask…is it possible to schedule a task that will run a batch file whenever a specific program (.exe) is found to be running? Thanks again!
Great question! We don’t know the answer. We will try to investigate and, if we find something, we will come back with a tutorial on this subject.
Thanks for your prompt reply Ciprian Adrian Rusen!
Hi Ciprian, thanks for the article – very helpful.
Can I use a variable instead of a username to allow another user to import a task without editing it? At the moment once they import the task it asks for the task author’s credentials.
I don’t think you can do that.
Hey, that was quick! thank you for the response.
How do I change the password entered when the task schedule was first set up to a new one? (my organization requires passwords to be changed every 90 days)…the old one no longer works for my task and I need to change it to my new one. How do I do this?
Tia
I have entered a program into the schedule to be run every day at 08:15. The program starts with reading an .ini file from it’s default directory. It can not find this file. The scheduler allows me to browse over to the file to execute it but the default directory is not changed. Is there a way of either changing the default directory or a defined place to store the .ini?
Hi, what about arguments and parameters in the action schedule, that is when browsing target exe for a program. Would you elaborate on this aspect. Is it meant to trigger the inside exe, in the main exe, for ex. if a program has option 3 for user to select, would it be something to do with this?
Hi,
I am trying to use task scheduler to play an audio clip (1min) once at a given time daily. I just wanted to check that this would be possible as I managed to set it up so that the clip was played at the requested time however I could not stop the clip from being played on repeat. If this is possible I would very much appreciate any advice on how I can get the task scheduler to achieve this.
Thank you.
I want to start scheduled task after change in any file event happen. E.g. if i open any excel file made any change & save. I want start after close this file.
On disconnect from user session with “only remote user” doesn’t work correctly on Windows 8.1. It works great on windows 7.
The event is fired on both local and remote disconnects
Hello Ciprian Adrian Rusen,
Is there a possibility to create a trigger that tells my program to start when a file is saved at a precise location? Because my program is dependent of another program run before by someone else.
Thanks
That requires some scripts, it is too advanced for a mere task scheduler.
When i try to save a new task it asks for account name and password.
I give the only account’s name from the control panel accounts page (which happens to be my email address) and is an administrator, and it says “specified account name not valid”
Hi,
I want that an excel file show as popup when I unlocks my computer, because everytime i unlock the computer, i have to update the excel file without delay.
Please help
I am trying to schedule a task to Google Analytic s report (url) download to a local folder. I have google analytics userID and passward to configure and download report. How can I do that. Can you please help with the steps/code for this please. please. please…
thanks for sharing. i have question. what is maximium length of argument that can be passed to a program ?
I suggest an edit to the “The available Advanced settings” section that points out a user is not actually limited to the defaults (30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.) of the drop-down dialog’s list when setting a time delay for a given task’s trigger(s). When the “Delay task for:” box is checked, one may highlight the time selection displayed and change it to the desired number of minutes.
Hi
I have a question is possible do the next if i have a program and for some reason I close this for error show me a pop up ask me If i really want close the program?
Hi
I want to run a batch file that includes a ‘myfile.exe’ and ‘text input file’ with the task scheduler in win7. But When the task scheduler execute , Run has been stopped and I face the following error in cmd:
‘myfile.exe’ is not recognized an internal or external command, operable program.
please help me
regard
Is there anyway to close a window once the task has been run without creating a batch file. I created a task that runs and at the end of the task I would like the window that opens to close automatically. Is there an augment that I can put in my scheduled task so that it does this. Please help
Hi
i have task scheduler running on my computer running for hours sometimes and it really affects my CPU (i think this is the cause) i have never recreated these tasks (unknownly if i have). can i delete these tasks and start again as and when i realise i need certain ones, i dont know why they are running to be honest
secretary sue
Is there a way to run a task when a certain log file contains some keywords (like ‘ERROR’)?
There is a way around the deprecated parts.
For error messages: http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/utility/mm_deluxe/
For the email thing, just use some kind of script that runs when the task is activated.
hello.
how do you run bath file?
You double click on it.
Excelent explanation about Tasks. I’m wondering how the arguments must be declared in the specified field; For example, I created a task which starts a script “open cmd.exe” and I want use the following argument: echo “Hello World”, but, when the task is executed, it only opens the cmd.exe, but no arguments has shown on the screen.
What I’m doing wrong?
I want play a song in wma, but I want the wma window not shown, or at least to close when done. But wma window opens and stays there.
I have a number of schedules tasks which run every day. 2 of these jobs are import jobs and I want to pause/stop all other jobs from running whenever these 2 jobs have failed/unsuccessful as these jobs require data from the import.
Even if these 2 jobs fail, I receive an email to say these have been unsuccessful. However, the other tasks continue to run and I receive e-mails to say these have been successful even though the information these reports contain are wrong.
Is there any way to stop/pause tasks if they are dependent on another task?
Advanced Tasks tutorial that doesn’t explain all the fields. Not good.
If a task runs every day from 11:19 every hour for 1 day what does that actually mean?
Does it mean that the tasks starts at 11:19 each day until the end of the day, or does the 1 day means 24 hours, any therefore would complete at 11:19 to following day, but start again due to the fact it repeats every day?
1 day means 24 hours. Your second guess is correct.
Is it possible to limit the number of instances that will start in parallel?
Can I set up an action to “press the enter key”, then press it again in 0.75 seconds?