Schtasks command
Updated: 11/12/2023 by Computer Hope
The schtasks command enables an administrator to create, delete, query, change, run, and end scheduled tasks on a local or remote system.
Availability
Schtasks is an external command that is available for the following Microsoft operating systems as schtasks.exe.
Schtasks syntax
SCHTASKS /parameter [arguments]
| /Create | Creates a new scheduled task. |
| /Delete | Deletes the scheduled task(s). |
| /Query | Displays all scheduled tasks. |
| /Change | Changes the properties of the scheduled task. |
| /Run | Runs the scheduled task on demand. |
| /End | Stops the currently running scheduled task. |
| /ShowSid | Shows the security identifier corresponding to a scheduled task name. |
SCHTASKS /Create [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] [/RU username [/RP password]] /SC schedule [/MO modifier] [/D day] [/M months] [/I idletime] /TN taskname /TR taskrun [/ST starttime] [/RI interval] [ {/ET endtime | /DU duration} [/K] [/XML xmlfile] [/V1]] [/SD startdate] [/ED enddate] [/IT | /NP] [/Z] [/F] [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote system. If omitted, the system parameter defaults to the local system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which SchTasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /RU | username | Specifies the "run as" user account (user context) under which the task runs. For the system account, valid values are "", "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" or "SYSTEM". For v2 tasks, "NT AUTHORITY\LOCALSERVICE" and "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORKSERVICE" are also available and the well-known SIDs for all three. |
| /RP | [password] | Specifies the password for the "run as" user. To prompt for the password, the value must be either "*" or none. This password is ignored for the system account. Must be combined with either /RU or /XML switch. |
| /SC | schedule | Specifies the schedule frequency. Valid schedule types: MINUTE, HOURLY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, ONCE, ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. |
| /MO | modifier | Refines the schedule type to allow finer control over schedule recurrence. Valid values are listed in the modifiers section below. |
| /D | days | Specifies the day of the week to run the task. Valid values: MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT, SUN and for MONTHLY schedules 1 - 31 (days of the month). Wildcard "*" specifies all days. |
| /M | months | Specifies month(s) of the year. Defaults to the first day of the month. Valid values: JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC. Wildcard "*" specifies all months. |
| /I | idletimes | Specifies the amount of idle time to wait before running a scheduled ONIDLE task. Valid range: 1 - 999 minutes. |
| /TN | taskname | Specifies a name which uniquely identifies this scheduled task. |
| /TR | taskrun | Specifies the path and file name of the program to be run at the scheduled time. Example: C:\windows\system32\calc.exe |
| /ST | starttime | Specifies the start time to run the task. The time format is HH:mm (24 hour time) for example, 14:30 for 2:30 P.M. Defaults to the current time if /ST is not specified. This option is required with /SC ONCE. |
| /RI | interval | Specifies the repetition interval in minutes. The interval is not applicable for schedule types: MINUTE, HOURLY, ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. Valid range: 1 - 599940 minutes. If either /ET or /DU is specified, then it defaults to 10 minutes. |
| /ET | endtime | Specifies the end time to run the task. The time format is HH:mm (24 hour time) for example, 14:50 for 2:50 P.M. and is not applicable for schedule types: ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. |
| /DU | duration | Specifies the duration to run the task. The time format is HH:mm and is not applicable with /ET and for schedule types: ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. For /V1 tasks, if /RI is specified, duration defaults to 1 hour. |
| /K | Terminates the task at the endtime or duration time and is not applicable for schedule types: ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. Either /ET or /DU must be specified. | |
| /SD | startdate | Specifies the first date on which the task runs. The format is mm/dd/yyyy. Defaults to the current date and is not applicable for schedule types: ONCE, ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. |
| /ED | enddate | Specifies the last date when the task should run. The format is mm/dd/yyyy and is not applicable for schedule types: ONCE, ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONIDLE, ONEVENT. |
| /EC | ChannelName | Specifies the event channel for OnEvent triggers. |
| /IT | Enables the task to run interactively only if the /RU user is currently logged on at the time the job runs. This task runs only if the user is logged in to the computer. | |
| /NP | No password is stored. The task runs non-interactively as the given user. Only local resources are available. | |
| /Z | Marks the task for deletion after its final run. | |
| /XML | xmlfile | Creates a task from the task XML specified in a file. Can be combined with /RU and /RP switches, or with /RP alone, when task XML already contains the principal. |
| /V1 | Creates a task visible to pre-Vista platforms. Not compatible with /XML. | |
| /F | Forcefully creates the task and suppresses warnings if the specified task already exists. | |
| /RL | level | Sets the runlevel for the job. Valid values are LIMITED and HIGHEST. The default is LIMITED. |
| /DELAY | delaytime | Specifies the wait time to delay the running of the task after the trigger is fired. The time format is mmmm:ss. This option is only valid for schedule types ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONEVENT. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Create modifiers
Valid values for the /MO switch per schedule type:
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. ONTHLY: 1 - 12, or FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, LAST, LASTDAY. ONEVENT: XPath event query string.
Jump to examples including schtasks delete examples.
SCHTASKS /Delete [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] /TN taskname [/F] [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote connected system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which schtasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /TN | taskname | Specifies the name of the scheduled task to delete. Wildcard "*" is used to delete all tasks. |
| /F | Forcefully deletes the task and suppresses warnings if the specified task is currently running. | |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Jump to examples including schtasks delete examples.
SCHTASKS /Query [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] [/FO format | /XML [xml_type]] [/NH] [/V] [/TN taskname] [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote connected system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which schtasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /FO | format | Specifies the format for the output. Valid values: TABLE, LIST, CSV. |
| /NH | Specifies that the column header should not display in the output and is valid only for TABLE and CSV format. | |
| /V | Displays verbose task output. | |
| /TN | taskname | Specifies the task name for which to retrieve the information, else all them. |
| /XML | [xml_type] | Displays task definitions in XML format. If xml_type is ONE, the output will be one valid XML file. If xml_type is not present, the output will be the concatenation of all XML task definitions. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Jump to examples including schtasks query examples.
SCHTASKS /Change [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] /TN taskname { [/RU runasuser] [/RP runaspassword] [/TR taskrun] [/ST starttime] [/RI interval] [ {/ET endtime | /DU duration} [/K] ] [/SD startdate] [/ED enddate] [/ENABLE | /DISABLE] [/IT] [/Z] } [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote connected system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which schtasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /TN | taskname | Specifies which scheduled task to change. |
| /RU | username | Changes the username (user context) under which the scheduled task has to run. For the system account, valid values are "", "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" or "SYSTEM". For v2 tasks, "NT AUTHORITY\LOCALSERVICE" and "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORKSERVICE" are also available and the well-known SIDs for all three. |
| /RP | password | Specifies a new password for the existing user context or the password for a new user account. This password is ignored for the system account. |
| /TR | taskrun | Specifies the new program that the scheduled task runs. |
| /ST | starttime | Specifies the start time to run the task. The time format is HH:mm (24 hour time) for example, 14:30 for 2:30 P.M. |
| /RI | interval | Specifies the repetition interval in minutes. Valid range: 1 - 599940 minutes. |
| /ET | endtime | Specifies the end time to run the task. The time format is HH:mm (24 hour time) for example, 14:50 for 2:50 P.M. |
| /DU | duration | Specifies the duration to run the task. The time format is HH:mm and is not applicable with /ET. |
| /K | Terminates the task at the endtime or duration time. | |
| /SD | startdate | Specifies the first date on which the task runs. The format is mm/dd/yyyy. |
| /ED | enddate | Specifies the last date when the task should run. The format is mm/dd/yyyy. |
| /IT | Enables the task to run interactively only if the /RU user is currently logged on at the time the job runs. This task runs only if the user is logged in to the computer. | |
| /RL | level | Sets the runlevel for the job. Valid values are LIMITED and HIGHEST. The default is to not change it. |
| /ENABLE | Enables the scheduled task. | |
| /DISABLE | Disables the scheduled task. | |
| /Z | Marks the task for deletion after its final run. | |
| /DELAY | delaytime | Specifies the wait time to delay the running of the task after the trigger is fired. The time format is mmmm:ss. This option is only valid for schedule types ONSTART, ONLOGON, ONEVENT. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Jump to examples including schtasks change examples.
SCHTASKS /Run [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] [/I] /TN taskname [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote connected system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which the schtasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /I | Runs the task immediately by ignoring any constraint. | |
| /TN | taskname | Identifies the scheduled task to run now. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Jump to examples including schtasks run examples.
SCHTASKS /End [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]] /TN taskname [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /S | system | Specifies the remote connected system. |
| /U | username | Specifies the user context under which the schtasks.exe should execute. |
| /P | [password] | Specifies the password for the given user context. Prompts for input if omitted. |
| /TN | taskname | Specifies the scheduled task to terminate. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Jump to examples including schtasks end examples.
SCHTASKS /ShowSid /TN taskname [/HRESULT] [/?]
| /TN | taskname | Specifies the scheduled task name. Dashes are not allowed in the name. |
| /HRESULT | For better diagnose ability, the process exit code will be in the HRESULT format. |
Schtasks examples
schtasks
Run alone, schtasks displays all task names, their next run time, and the status.
Schtasks delete example
SCHTASKS /Delete /TN "\Backup\Backup and Restore"
Delete the Backup and Restore scheduled task using schtasks.
Schtasks query example
SCHTASKS /Query /FO CSV /NH /V
Query the schedule tasks using schtasks and display all output in CSV format.
Schtasks change example
SCHTASKS /Change /TR restore.exe /TN "\Backup\Start Restore"
Change the restore.exe taskname to Start Restore using schtasks.
Schtasks run example
SCHTASKS /Run /TN "\Backup\Start Backup"
Run the taskname Start Backup using schtasks.
Schtasks end example
SCHTASKS /End /TN "\Backup\Start Backup"
End the taskname Start Backup using schtasks.
Schtasks showsid example
SCHTASKS /ShowSid /TN "\Backup\Start Backup"
Running the above command would give results similar to the example below.
SUCCESS: The SID "S-1-5-17-2047162322-3971081939-4152322419-2583044571-537493394" for the username "Backup-Start Backup" has been computed successfully.