Task scheduler Windows Server 2019 - Task not running ONSTART - windows

Question

I am trying to build an AWS AMI for a gitlab runner for building our .NET application.
I am using packer for building the image based one the official Windows Server 2019 base AWS AMI.
I am using WinRM, with HTTPS, not changing any password.
Here are the powershell commands to configure the virtual machine :
"Creating desktop directory"
mkdir C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop
"Installing ntrights tools"
mkdir tools
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://download.microsoft.com/download/8/e/c/8ec3a7d8-05b4-440a-a71e-ca3ee25fe057/rktools.exe" -OutFile "tools\tools.exe" -UseBasicParsing
Start-Process "tools\tools.exe" -ArgumentList "/T:$pwd\tools\ /C" -Wait
Start-Process "msiexec.exe" -ArgumentList "/i $pwd\tools\rktools.msi /qn" -Wait
$env:Path = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine") + ";" + [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User")
Remove-Item tools -Recurse
"Setting rights of service logon to $Env:WINRMUSER"
ntrights.exe ntrights +r SeServiceLogonRight -u $Env:WINRMUSER
# Git lab runner
$path = ".\gitlab-runner.exe"
If(!(test-path $path))
{
"Downloading Gitlab Runner"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://gitlab-runner-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-windows-386.exe" -OutFile $path -UseBasicParsing
}
"Scheduling runner to start at startup of the system"
schtasks.exe /create /tn "Gitlab Runner service start" /RU $Env:WINRMUSER /RP `"$Env:WINRMPASS`" /Sc ONSTART /tr "powershell -Command $pwd\register-gitlabrunner.ps1 -ExecutionPolicy Bypass"
There are obviously more scripts executed (install msbuild, install .net sdk 4.7.2, nugget, and git) I can provide them if relevant. Here I focus on the powershell code I came up with for the gitlab runner problem.
I want the virtual machine to start the runner on start so we just have to launch instances of the AMI to scale up.
To explain a bit more what I did try :
You can see I am trying to create the desktop directory in order for windows to get that it can run interactive things... Not working
I am setting up the SeServiceLogonRight in order to avoid the "failed to logon" error
The user is Administrator, and the password is the right password
The scheduled tasks is created and ready to run. Won't run on start, won't run If i start it through schtasks /Run (the last run time is never updated and show a value in 19XX)
Tried to cmd /c the task command, everything work as expected
I don't find any logs anywhere, event log seems to be empty of problem from Application, System and Powershell. The file in c:\Windows\Tasks\SchlogU (or something like that), does not exist (but the folder exists)
I have no UI for the scheduler, I use a light version of windows so all I can do is play with the schtasks.exe
Default folder is : c:\Users\Administrator
The powershell script is pushed by packer onto the server and is located in c:\Users\Administrator (as for the gitlab-runner.exe)
I connect directly through RDP to try debugging the situation.
Here is the script that should be started
Set-Location $PSScriptRoot
$path = ".\gitlab-runner.exe"
"Stopping runner"
Invoke-Expression "$path stop"
"Unregistering previous configuration"
Invoke-Expression "$path unregister --all-runners"
"Uninstalling runner"
Invoke-Expression "$path uninstall"
"Installing runner"
Invoke-Expression "$path install"
"Registering Gitlab Runner"
Invoke-Expression "$path register --non-interactive --url 'https://URL_HERE/' --registration-token 'TOKEN HERE' --executor shell"
"Starting the runner"
Invoke-Expression "$path start"
I can install the runner only once in the configuration using the user and password but this is not the problem here since the task never runs...

Answer 1

Answer the question with what I came up thanks :
I was told by so many docs and answers everywhere that the task scheduler is the way to go when you need to start scripts at startup or logon.
As I always worked with windows servers with GUIs, the Task Scheduler was working fine until now. Maybe I did something wrong somewhere, maybe not.
Anyway, after trying using powershell commands to create the task (with improvements but no sufficient solutions), I tried to put a command file in the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp, did not work either.
the file look like this thanks to this link
PowerShell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted"
PowerShell -Command "c:\Users\Administrator\register-gitlabrunner.ps1" >> c:\startup.log.txt
I tried to delay the start of the script to 5 minutes after startup. Was to test if it was a problem with a slow initialization of network or something else. Still not working.
There is something preventing the script to be executed when it's launched at startup using this methods.
From there I added a persistent "user_data" script on my EC2 launch template in order to start what I was expecting on start. It works.
I don't feel it's the best way since I need to configure the template and not only the AMI but at least it works.
The script in user_data looks like this :
<script>
cmd /c "C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/StartUp/startup.cmd"
</script>
<persist>true</persist>
I kept the installation and registering in the startup script since I got logon errors when I install gitlab runner through WinRM using the account credentials (--user --password)
I still don't understand what is up with this issue. I guess it's a problem with the account used to start the script (localsystem or something like that, that would conflict with the gitlab runner service).
Since I have no GUI (the docs are mostly on GUI) and limited time, I won't investigate more for the moment and feel it's enough at least for the moment.
Hope this can help someone that will encounter the same situation