I need to run an offsite backup .cmd script (batch file) on a Windows 7/8 PC, daily, whether a user is logged on or not. Naturally, Task Scheduler's feature "run if user is logged or not" doesn't work (sarcasm .. thanks M$) because the user has to be logged on at some time then signed out. Moreover, because of the urgency of the task, it must run no matter what. For example, if the power goes out and upon restoration the computer reboots, there will be nobody logged on. So, I need to convert the batch file to a service.
I've used NSSM to convert the batch file into a service, but I don't know how to make the service run on a schedule, because, by definition, it's not meant to run that way - I should be using a scheduled task. So, I'm not sure what to do and all the tutorials I've seen on Google imply that I know VB script and/or C#. Unfortunately, I don't and don't plan to ... I just need a quick fix to work like a Linux cron job.
Thanks!
Task Scheduler's feature "run if user is logged or not" doesn't work (sarcasm .. thanks M$) because the user has to be logged on at some time then signed out.
Are you sure? Because "run if user is logged or not" is an option, not a trigger. It should be combined with trigger "At startup" to achieve desired result:
If everything else fails, you can use nncron to schedule tasks and install it as service.
Related
I am trying to schedule a task that would run a simple batch file that runs some python script. The python script is a test that creates an empty text file. When I run the batch file the text file is created with no issues.
When I try to create a task with the scheduler and run it, nothing happens (whether I wait for the actual time or run manually). I changed the options to run with highers priviledge and denies access, even if I gave my account complete admin rights and added the user to the 'log on as a batch job' in local security policy.
Do you guys have any ideas as to why this is happening?
Are there any free applications that can do this same task?
Thanks
I found a good alternative that works for me, its simple and free: https://www.splinterware.com/
I need to run a python script every day at a certain time. Said script takes screenshots and sends them to me in the mail. I have a .bat that executes the script, and I have created a scheduled task to execute the script, the problem is that if the user is not logged in, the screenshots fail.
Is there any way to do an automatic login with username and password through a Windows scheduled task at a specific time?
I have been reading and it is not clear to me, it seems that not, but I was sure that something like this could be done.
This is the scheduled task that I currently have. I need that before it is executed, it is logged in with the user.
I am running a Jenkins server on a Windows 10 computer, as a service. In one of the Jenkins-jobs I have to perform tests using a COM application. The same computer is also used by the developers in their daily work over RDP, and the Jenkins-job in question is run in the night when no regular developer is using it. But if no user is logged in on the computer or using RDP, the script in the job fails to start the COM application with the following message:
The server process could not be started because the configured
identity is incorrect. Check the username and password.
I found that the issue seems to be that the identity for the COM application is taken from the current interactive user, and if there is none, it fails, see
https://support.microsoft.com/en-my/help/305761/com-server-application-that-uses-interactive-user-identity-fails-to-lo
I cant seem to be able to solve my issue. I see two options:
Make sure that a user is logged in when the job is executed
Figure out how to run the COM application without an interactive user
For 1 i see the following solutions and why they do not work:
Autologin on Windows start, and leave logged-in: Will not work since we use the computer in our daily work through RDP, which means that the local logged in user will be kicked out since we are only allowed one session at a time.
Log in using RDP and then exit using the script tscon.exe 0 /dest:console which will leave the session open. Will not work since we are 15 people in the team using that machine over RDP, and people will forgett to use this command when they log of by the end of the day.
For 2, i am unable to find a way to do this.
Can I in Windows schedule a user to automaticall be logged in before the job starts? Can i use a second computer and scedule an RDP-session to the first computer, before the job is executed?
Since nobody was able to provide a good solution I will input my workardound as an answer and possible solution. What I ended up doing was using a second computer (running Windows) and schedule a task on that computer that every night (before the Jenkins-job starts) opens an RDP-session to the computer running Jenkins. This way the Jenkins job, and the COM-application, has an active user that it can use.
This is how I achieved this:
Login to the second computer (i.e. the one not running Jenkins) and open the RDP (Remote Desktop Connection) dialog and click Show Options
Enter the details for the first computer (i.e. the one running Jenkins). Make sure to uncheck Always ask for credentials (you will need to save the credentials to be able to automate this).
Save the configuration to an .rdp-file, using Save As...
IMPORTANT: Press connect to connect to the first computer, enter the password and make sure to save it. Also accept any certificates e.t.c. to prevent future warnings/dialogs.
Create a bat-file containing the following
mstsc C:\Path\To\saved_rdp_file.rdp
Create a task in Windows Sceduler that calls the bat-file created in step 5 every night.
Optional: If you want to close the rdp-session when Jenkins is done, create a second bats-script and scedule that as well, containing:
tasklist /FI "imagename eq mstsc.exe" | find "mstsc.exe" && taskkill /f /im mstsc.exe || echo process "mstsc.exe" is not running
We have a legacy VB6 application that automatically emails reports. It runs from a scheduled task on a server. Occasionally a user will run the exe - it's in a folder that we can't lock them out of, and it has to remain in that folder for reasons too complicated to go into here. Is there a way to prevent users from running the exe while still letting it run from the scheduled task? I can modify the source code for the exe, so that's an option if someone can help me figure out how.
I'm going to call your existing app AppChild and a new VB6 (or other program language) program AppParent.
Modify AppChild to test for a command line parameter at either Sub Main() or at the first form loaded in the Form_Load() event. If the command line parameter isn't there, AppChild terminates.
AppParent would be in a location not accessible to the other users. The Scheduled task runs AppParent which runs AppChild and passes the required command line parameter. This could be secured somewhat by passing a calculated hash and decoding it in AppChild if needed.
Or, if the users don't have access to the Scheduled Tasks, you could just run AppChild , passing the required parameter from the Scheduled Task. If the users do have access to the Scheduled Task this won't work because they could then see the passed parameter and create a shortcut which passes the required parameter.
You didn't state which OS the server is running but you may have problems using network resources if you try to run the Scheduled Task without a logged in user. Task Manager got a major update to handle security issues to prevent hackers from running tasks without a logged in user. Essentailly, network resources, .e.g. eMail, are not available unless a user is logged in.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722152(v=ws.11).aspx
The only way I found around that problem is to run a machine with a user with the correct permissions logged in all the time.
Are you sure you cannot lock the user out?
You could restrict access to the folder so that the user cannot access it and set up the scheduled task to use an account with access to the folder.
Although the users can't be locked out of the folder (perhaps the reports end up in there?), in Windows you can set the permissions on a per file basis. Make a new user that has the full rights (the same as your users). Schedule the VB6 app to run with that user. Remove the rights for the regular users to see the app. You do this by changing the permissions on just the VB6 app.
Does anybody know what user privileges are needed for the following code needs to successfully execute as a scheduled task on Windows Server 2003:
System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName(Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName)
When NOT running as scheduled task i.e. under a logged in user, as long as the user is a member of "Performance Monitor Users", this code will not throw an exception.
When running as a scheduled task under the same user account, it fails.
The only way I can get it to work is to run it as a member of the Local Administrator group.
Any ideas?
My humblest apologies. The user I was using was NOT a member of "Performance Monitor Users" group.
This is necessary for .NET Framework 1.1 implementation of System.Diagnostics.
I have added the user to this group, and all is well.
What user rights assignments have you given the account that is running as a scheduled task? You'll need to give the account in question 'Log on as a batch job' in your local security settings.
Update: Does your app write to any files and if so does the scheduled task user have enough rights?
I just knocked up a test app that writes the process names from the Process[] array returned by Process.GetProcessesByName(Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName) to a file and it works just fine as a scheduled task...even running under the identity of a user that is only a member of the Users group (not even a member of 'Performance Monitor Users'.
The folder it writes to is assigned modify rights to SYSTEM, Administrators and the scheduled task user.
Any chance of pasting your code or at least a small enough snippet that demonstrates the exe failing as a scheduled task so we can help diagnose the problem?
Cheers
Kev
One issue that I have seen with reading the process name is that access to the performance counters can get disabled.
Crack open your registry and see if this key is there:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PerfProc\Performance]
"Disable Performance Counters"=dword:00000001
You can either set it to zero or deleted it.
Taken from MSDN:
Permissions LinkDemand - for full
trust for the immediate caller. This
member cannot be used by partially
trusted code.