The task scheduler wizard starts from the Scheduled tasks applet in the Control panel or via the System tools. You can modify the following options after using the wizard :
Tasks tab :
| Run. The program to run. |
| Start in. The working directory. |
| Comments. Notes about the task. |
| Run as. Account used to run the task. |
| Set password button. Set the password of the previous account. |
| Enabled. Turn task on or off. |
Schedule tab :
| Schedule task. Daily, weekly, monthly, Once, at system startup, at logon, when idle. Depending on this option you can set when the task should run. (every x-days, every Monday, x-day of the month, after x minutes idle, etc.) For some options there is also an advanced tab. |
| Start time. Time to start the tasks. |
| Show multiple schedules. You can set various schedules for one task. |
Settings tab :
| Delete the task if it is not scheduled to run again. (default off) |
| Stop the task if it runs for x hours and x minutes. (default 72 hours) |
| Idle time. Set if the system should be idle for at least x minutes and retry after x minutes when it is not. (default off) |
| Don't start the task if the computer is running on batteries. (default on) You can also set the task to stop when the system is not idle anymore. |
| Stop the task if battery mode begins. (default on) |
Security tab :
Set the users who are able to change or read the tasks.
Tasks are stored .job files in the \winnt\tasks-directory. These file do not contain the user-id's and passwords that should execute the task.
The SchedLgU.txt in the \winnt directory shows the tasks executed by the Scheduler services.
The task scheduler command line utility at.exe allows you to manage the Task Scheduler from the command line. Within Windows XP, the command schtasks is available to create tasks.
| Windows 2000 server task scheduler introduction |
| Windows 2000 task scheduler (Windows 2000 magazine jan 2001) |
| Job scheduling software (Windows 2000 magazine jul 2000) |
Last update : 10 December 2001