Task scheduler doesn't work unless I run it manually

Question

I have a scheduled task on my Windows 2008 R2 server which is supposed to run a powershell script to download a backup of a file from another server. On this same server, I have scheduled the exact same task to run and download from 2 other servers - these tasks work fine.

This one task in particular never seems to do anything. The task history says it was executed successfully but the files are never downloaded. If I run the powershell script manually, the files are downloaded. If I run the automatic task manually, the files are downloaded again. If I disconnect and come to check the next day, the files have not been downloaded.

I have it set to run whether the user is logged on or not. Why is it not working?? How I can enable more detailed logging?

Solution 1

I had a similar case, and it seems that task scheduler treats the "start in" option differently whether you run it manually or on system startup.

My "start in" was not defined. It wasn't until I properly set it up to start my script in the desired location that I was able to reproduce the same behaviour regardless of whether I was running on startup or running manually.

Solution 2

Check the condition tab in the properties of task. In my case, start the task only if the computer is on AC power was CHECKED. I disabled that and now its running.

Comments

[Malachi]

if you wrote the application you can write in the code for it to log on every event. you should also check the Task/Application to make sure you know where it is downloading the file too. maybe change the path name so that it is something like c:/folder1/folder2 etc. rather than a relative pathname like ../folder4

[MDMoore313]

Is the task scheduler service running?

[C.B.]

Sounds like it might be an authentication issue (but unfortunately i don't know how to investigate it any further)...

[pabouk - Ukraine stay strong]

It does not seem to be the same problem as in the question. You can post a new question and (after a time limit) answer it yourself.

[karolL]

Dude, you're a life-saver. Spend almost an hour debugging a scheduled task on a Windows Laptop and was wondering what on earth was going on.