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chustedde
chustedde

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Why is your PowerShell Scheduled Task not running?

This is one of the most-referenced entries I've made in my department's shared notes, so it seemed like a good choice for my first post to a wider audience!

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Who's running things?

  • Is the task set to run whether or not the user is logged on?
  • Do you have a specific account that runs scheduled tasks?
    • Did you save the correct password when setting up the task?
    • Just try the password one more time... I won't tell anyone you tried typing it instead of copying and pasting 😅
  • Does the user/script-running account have the correct permissions to do everything you need it to?
    • Folder permissions are a common issue

Trust issues

  • Does the account running the script trust your signature?
    • You may need to trust/re-trust your signature, especially if you were recently issued a new code signing cert
  • If possible, on the machine running the task, open up a command prompt (or PowerShell!) and try launching PowerShell as the user running the task: runas /user:example.edu\taskrunner powershell.exe
    • Try running your script in the new PowerShell window that just popped up
    • When it asks you to trust your script, you say yes [A]lways!

I hope this saves at least a few people from a few moments of frustration. There are weirder issues out there for sure, but this checklist should help you solve the most common ones!

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