Using Task Scheduler to run a PowerShell Script

Although this is quite a straight forward thing to implement searching around on the web it did appear that there is some confusion around what to put where when specifying a PowerShell script from Windows Server Task Scheduler. 

So I thought I’d put together this brief post.  In this example I am using MS Windows Server 2008 to schedule a PowerShell to run.  If we were to try and run a PowerShell from a normal command line we’d type the following:

powershell.exe –Noninteractive –Noprofile –Command “&{<fullpath to script>}”

Notice that I didn’t specify the path to the powershell executable – the reason for this being that I have the path already specified in the servers Path environment variable, ie: %SystemRoot%system32WindowsPowerShellv1.0

If you haven’t already done this you’ll have to specify the full path to the PowerShell executable – this is a real faff (a technical term  ) so I’d recommend adding it your path environment variable if you haven’t done so.

When scheduling a new task and specifying the action (ie: in this case running a PowerShell script) the core of your syntax will be in the ‘Arguments’ section of the action (see below).

Use the image below as a template and enter the directory containing your PowerShell script in the ‘Start in’ setting field.

When completed you should have something similar to the action below.

Happy PowerShelling…