Calling all Vista Task Scheduler experts

Either there is something wrong with the Task Scheduler in my Vista or
it is a general problem or I have made a silly mistake.
I've already had a look in Microsoft's KB, but couldn't find a response
to this problem.

I want to create a very simple task: Every 9 days I would like to
display a short reminding message every 30 minutes on that 9th day.
A similar task works very well with my Windows 98 SE system, but is
impossible to achieve with my Vista.

In Vista I use "On a schedule" starting at 05:00 in the morning with a
"Daily" interval of 9.
Then "Repeat task every" 30 minutes for a duration of 19 hours.

In Windows 98 SE this works correctly, the task starts 9 days later and
repeats every 30 minutes for 19 hours, but not so in my Vista, where the
task starts immediately and then repeats every 30 minutes.
Setting the starting date manually to 9 days later will obviously work,
but then I would have to set this interval *manually* every 9 days,
which renders an automatic task scheduler pretty useless.

There is one weirdness, though.
If I set "Repeat task every" *and* duration to the identical values
*and* check "Stop at duration end", then the task will start 9 days
later, but will not repeat, i.e. it will only execute once on that 9th
day. For other values, checking "Stop at duration end" does not solve
the problem.

I believe that I have tried all relevant logical combinations before
posting this message.

Could anybody shed some light on this please, or confirm that there is
in fact a problem in the Task Scheduler?

Marco

"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Either there is something wrong with the Task Scheduler in my Vista or
> it is a general problem or I have made a silly mistake.
> I've already had a look in Microsoft's KB, but couldn't find a response
> to this problem.
>
> I want to create a very simple task: Every 9 days I would like to
> display a short reminding message every 30 minutes on that 9th day.
> A similar task works very well with my Windows 98 SE system, but is
> impossible to achieve with my Vista.
>
> In Vista I use "On a schedule" starting at 05:00 in the morning with a
> "Daily" interval of 9.
> Then "Repeat task every" 30 minutes for a duration of 19 hours.
>
> In Windows 98 SE this works correctly, the task starts 9 days later and
> repeats every 30 minutes for 19 hours, but not so in my Vista, where the
> task starts immediately and then repeats every 30 minutes.
> Setting the starting date manually to 9 days later will obviously work,
> but then I would have to set this interval *manually* every 9 days,
> which renders an automatic task scheduler pretty useless.
>
> There is one weirdness, though.
> If I set "Repeat task every" *and* duration to the identical values
> *and* check "Stop at duration end", then the task will start 9 days
> later, but will not repeat, i.e. it will only execute once on that 9th
> day. For other values, checking "Stop at duration end" does not solve
> the problem.
>
> I believe that I have tried all relevant logical combinations before
> posting this message.
>
> Could anybody shed some light on this please, or confirm that there is
> in fact a problem in the Task Scheduler?
>


You want a daily trigger with a start date nine days from now set to recur
every nine days.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:51:09 -0700] wrote:

>"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Either there is something wrong with the Task Scheduler in my Vista or
>> it is a general problem or I have made a silly mistake.
>> I've already had a look in Microsoft's KB, but couldn't find a response
>> to this problem.
>>
>> I want to create a very simple task: Every 9 days I would like to
>> display a short reminding message every 30 minutes on that 9th day.
>> A similar task works very well with my Windows 98 SE system, but is
>> impossible to achieve with my Vista.
>>
>> In Vista I use "On a schedule" starting at 05:00 in the morning with a
>> "Daily" interval of 9.
>> Then "Repeat task every" 30 minutes for a duration of 19 hours.
>>
>> In Windows 98 SE this works correctly, the task starts 9 days later and
>> repeats every 30 minutes for 19 hours, but not so in my Vista, where the
>> task starts immediately and then repeats every 30 minutes.
>> Setting the starting date manually to 9 days later will obviously work,
>> but then I would have to set this interval *manually* every 9 days,
>> which renders an automatic task scheduler pretty useless.
>>
>> There is one weirdness, though.
>> If I set "Repeat task every" *and* duration to the identical values
>> *and* check "Stop at duration end", then the task will start 9 days
>> later, but will not repeat, i.e. it will only execute once on that 9th
>> day. For other values, checking "Stop at duration end" does not solve
>> the problem.
>>
>> I believe that I have tried all relevant logical combinations before
>> posting this message.
>>
>> Could anybody shed some light on this please, or confirm that there is
>> in fact a problem in the Task Scheduler?
>>
>
>
>You want a daily trigger with a start date nine days from now set to recur
>every nine days.

Yes, that is not the problem, but rather when I want the reminder
message to display repetitively every 30 minutes on the 9th day is what
does not work. The task starts its 30-minute repetition at once and
doesn't stop.

Marco

"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:51:09 -0700] wrote:
>
>>"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Either there is something wrong with the Task Scheduler in my Vista or
>>> it is a general problem or I have made a silly mistake.
>>> I've already had a look in Microsoft's KB, but couldn't find a response
>>> to this problem.
>>>
>>> I want to create a very simple task: Every 9 days I would like to
>>> display a short reminding message every 30 minutes on that 9th day.
>>> A similar task works very well with my Windows 98 SE system, but is
>>> impossible to achieve with my Vista.
>>>
>>> In Vista I use "On a schedule" starting at 05:00 in the morning with a
>>> "Daily" interval of 9.
>>> Then "Repeat task every" 30 minutes for a duration of 19 hours.
>>>
>>> In Windows 98 SE this works correctly, the task starts 9 days later and
>>> repeats every 30 minutes for 19 hours, but not so in my Vista, where the
>>> task starts immediately and then repeats every 30 minutes.
>>> Setting the starting date manually to 9 days later will obviously work,
>>> but then I would have to set this interval *manually* every 9 days,
>>> which renders an automatic task scheduler pretty useless.
>>>
>>> There is one weirdness, though.
>>> If I set "Repeat task every" *and* duration to the identical values
>>> *and* check "Stop at duration end", then the task will start 9 days
>>> later, but will not repeat, i.e. it will only execute once on that 9th
>>> day. For other values, checking "Stop at duration end" does not solve
>>> the problem.
>>>
>>> I believe that I have tried all relevant logical combinations before
>>> posting this message.
>>>
>>> Could anybody shed some light on this please, or confirm that there is
>>> in fact a problem in the Task Scheduler?
>>>
>>
>>
>>You want a daily trigger with a start date nine days from now set to recur
>>every nine days.
>
> Yes, that is not the problem, but rather when I want the reminder
> message to display repetitively every 30 minutes on the 9th day is what
> does not work. The task starts its 30-minute repetition at once and
> doesn't stop.
>


On the trigger screen you picked:

Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 -0700] wrote:

>On the trigger screen you picked:
>
>Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?

I have prepared a screenshot of the trigger page for you. Although it is
in French, I hope that the positions of the trigger fields correspond to
the English version: http://users.belgacom.net/marecko/trigger.png

If the values of "Repeat task every" and duration are different, then
the task will start immediately and repeat at the rate of the repetition
value. Checking "Stop at duration end" has no effect.
On the other hand, if the two values are the same *and* "Stop at
duration end" is checked, the task will run 9 days later, but only once,
i.e. it will not repeat that day, but it will run again 9 days later.

It is not necessary to wait for 9 days, as the time and date are shown
in the "Next Run Time" column of that task.
You could check this on your Vista machine. If the run times are shown
as expected, then there must be a problem with my Vista.

Marco

"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 -0700] wrote:
>
>>On the trigger screen you picked:
>>
>>Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?
>
> I have prepared a screenshot of the trigger page for you. Although it is
> in French, I hope that the positions of the trigger fields correspond to
> the English version: http://users.belgacom.net/marecko/trigger.png
>
> If the values of "Repeat task every" and duration are different, then
> the task will start immediately and repeat at the rate of the repetition
> value. Checking "Stop at duration end" has no effect.
> On the other hand, if the two values are the same *and* "Stop at
> duration end" is checked, the task will run 9 days later, but only once,
> i.e. it will not repeat that day, but it will run again 9 days later.
>
> It is not necessary to wait for 9 days, as the time and date are shown
> in the "Next Run Time" column of that task.
> You could check this on your Vista machine. If the run times are shown
> as expected, then there must be a problem with my Vista.
>


I'm not going to get a chance to try this for a couple of days. When I get a
chance I'll try it and see what happens.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 -0700] wrote:
>
>>On the trigger screen you picked:
>>
>>Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?
>
> I have prepared a screenshot of the trigger page for you. Although it is
> in French, I hope that the positions of the trigger fields correspond to
> the English version: http://users.belgacom.net/marecko/trigger.png
>
> If the values of "Repeat task every" and duration are different, then
> the task will start immediately and repeat at the rate of the repetition
> value. Checking "Stop at duration end" has no effect.
> On the other hand, if the two values are the same *and* "Stop at
> duration end" is checked, the task will run 9 days later, but only once,
> i.e. it will not repeat that day, but it will run again 9 days later.
>
> It is not necessary to wait for 9 days, as the time and date are shown
> in the "Next Run Time" column of that task.
> You could check this on your Vista machine. If the run times are shown
> as expected, then there must be a problem with my Vista.
>
> Marco



Your 'pour une durée' section should be set to '19 heures' according to your
original specification.

Also the next run time for the task isn't a definitive guide to whether the
task will actually run or not. It can 'run' and realize that it shouldn't
run, and so effectively do nothing (if that makes sense).

--
Jon

Jon [Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:08:58 +0100] wrote:

>
>"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 -0700] wrote:
>>
>>>On the trigger screen you picked:
>>>
>>>Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?
>>
>> I have prepared a screenshot of the trigger page for you. Although it is
>> in French, I hope that the positions of the trigger fields correspond to
>> the English version: http://users.belgacom.net/marecko/trigger.png
>>
>> If the values of "Repeat task every" and duration are different, then
>> the task will start immediately and repeat at the rate of the repetition
>> value. Checking "Stop at duration end" has no effect.
>> On the other hand, if the two values are the same *and* "Stop at
>> duration end" is checked, the task will run 9 days later, but only once,
>> i.e. it will not repeat that day, but it will run again 9 days later.
>>
>> It is not necessary to wait for 9 days, as the time and date are shown
>> in the "Next Run Time" column of that task.
>> You could check this on your Vista machine. If the run times are shown
>> as expected, then there must be a problem with my Vista.
>>
>> Marco
>
>
>
>Your 'pour une durée' section should be set to '19 heures' according to your
>original specification.

No matter what value I put there, for as long as this value is
*different* from the repeat value, the task will start immediately, as
though I had chosen an interval value of 1 day instead of 9 days.
This is very irritating, because an identical task works very well in my
good old Windows 98 SE system.

>Also the next run time for the task isn't a definitive guide to whether the
>task will actually run or not. It can 'run' and realize that it shouldn't
>run, and so effectively do nothing (if that makes sense).

Well, I can confirm that the "Next Run Time" shown in the task does
correspond to the actual start of the task.

Marco

Kerry Brown [Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:52:51 -0700] wrote:

>"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Kerry Brown [Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:46:00 -0700] wrote:
>>
>>>On the trigger screen you picked:
>>>
>>>Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of 1 day?
>>
>> I have prepared a screenshot of the trigger page for you. Although it is
>> in French, I hope that the positions of the trigger fields correspond to
>> the English version: http://users.belgacom.net/marecko/trigger.png
>>
>> If the values of "Repeat task every" and duration are different, then
>> the task will start immediately and repeat at the rate of the repetition
>> value. Checking "Stop at duration end" has no effect.
>> On the other hand, if the two values are the same *and* "Stop at
>> duration end" is checked, the task will run 9 days later, but only once,
>> i.e. it will not repeat that day, but it will run again 9 days later.
>>
>> It is not necessary to wait for 9 days, as the time and date are shown
>> in the "Next Run Time" column of that task.
>> You could check this on your Vista machine. If the run times are shown
>> as expected, then there must be a problem with my Vista.
>>
>
>
>I'm not going to get a chance to try this for a couple of days. When I get a
>chance I'll try it and see what happens.

OK, take your time, I have a pretty lame workaround for the moment.

Marco

"Marco Desloovere" <> wrote in message
news:...
>>

> No matter what value I put there, for as long as this value is
> *different* from the repeat value, the task will start immediately, as
> though I had chosen an interval value of 1 day instead of 9 days.
> This is very irritating, because an identical task works very well in my
> good old Windows 98 SE system.
>

If you make any changes at all to the existing task,or set up a new task,
then you always need to ensure that you set a new date in the *future* (the
'Démarrer' line in your jpg). Otherwise the Task Scheduler just sees a date
in the past and so sets the start date to the current time. It looks like
it's using a fairly simple algorithm for this that doesn't try and work out
what the next run date should be if the date is in the past. This explains
why the task is starting immediately. Experiment with this and you'll see
what I mean.


Secondly, if you set the 2 vaues you mentioned to the be the same ('Repeat
task every' (Répéter la tache tous les' ) and 'For a duration of' ('pour une
durée' de)), then this effectively means that the task only runs once ie
there is *no repeat involved*, ie the task becomes equivalent to scheduling
the task to run once only every 9 days at a specific time. So this explains
what you observed there.


>>Also the next run time for the task isn't a definitive guide to whether
>>the
>>task will actually run or not. It can 'run' and realize that it shouldn't
>>run, and so effectively do nothing (if that makes sense).
>
> Well, I can confirm that the "Next Run Time" shown in the task does
> correspond to the actual start of the task.
>
> Marco



Combining 2 sets of criteria in one task (ie 'every 9 days' and 'every 30
minutes'), doesn't look like it runs that reliably. I don't know what the
'lame workaround' was that you mentioned in your other post, but it may be
worth considering splitting this into 2 tasks eg

Task A: Runs once every 9 days at 5:00 and launches task B
(you can use 'schtasks' for this ... schtasks /? )

Task B: Shows a message every 30 minutes for 19 hours from 5:00


--
Jon