Programmatically Creating a Scheduled Task in Windows - 0x8004130f Error

Question

I am having major problems getting a scheduled task to run. The task is created fine using the ITaskScheduler interface provided by Microsoft. The task is set to run only if a user is logged on.

The problem is that the task does NOT run and the log file SchedLgU.txt cites the reason as being:

"The attempt to retrieve account information for the specified task failed; therefore, the task did not run. Either an error occurred, or no account information existed for the task.

The specific error is:

0x8004130f: No account information could be found in the Task Scheduler security database for the task indicated."

I know for a fact that a scheduled task can be created with no account information because the Google Updater scheduled task does this, and it runs fine.

All I can gather from web searches is that Windows has a "scheduled task database" that needs to have credential information for each task for it to be able to run.

Does anyone know how to modify this credential database or any other way to get my task to run?

Answer 1

As far as I know, and the documentation backs this up, an account is required for a scheduled task. If you set the task to run only when a user is logged in that only means a password is not necessary, you still need an account. This account can be set to a group so that the task will be run when it is triggered as long as anyone in the group is logged on. For instance you can set the account to 'Users' so that the task can run when anyone is logged on.

Answer 2

you could use batch scripting.

schtasks /create /tn UNO /tr YOURAPP.EXE /sc HOURLY /mo 2

there you go.

read: How to use Schtasks.exe to Schedule Tasks in Windows Server 2003

Answer 3

The GoogleUpdateTaskMachine Task uses the "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" to Run the task. You can do this by using schtasks command and the /ru switch with "System" or "" as the parameter. Like this:

schtasks /create /tn "My App" /tr c:\apps\myapp.exe /sc monthly /d 15 /ru "System"

It does not prompt for a password.

See technet for more info.