How to Schedule Tasks with Windows Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is the Windows equivalent of cron — and just as essential. This guide creates a scheduled task via the GUI quickly, then shows the PowerShell equivalent so you can script it.

Prerequisites

• Windows Server 2019 / 2022 with admin PowerShell.
• A script to run — we will use C:\Scripts\nightly-cleanup.ps1 as the example.

Step 1: Write the script

C:\Scripts\nightly-cleanup.ps1:

$Log = "C:\Logs\nightly-cleanup.log"
"$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')  Cleanup started" | Out-File $Log -Append

# Purge IIS logs older than 30 days
Get-ChildItem 'C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles' -Recurse -Include '*.log' |
    Where-Object LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-30) |
    Remove-Item -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

"$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')  Cleanup finished" | Out-File $Log -Append

Test it manually first:

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Scripts\nightly-cleanup.ps1
Get-Content C:\Logs\nightly-cleanup.log -Tail 5

Step 2: Create the scheduled task via PowerShell

$Action  = New-ScheduledTaskAction `
              -Execute 'powershell.exe' `
              -Argument '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\nightly-cleanup.ps1"'

$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 02:30AM

$Settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet `
              -StartWhenAvailable `
              -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries `
              -RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable:$false `
              -RestartCount 3 -RestartInterval (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 5)

$Principal = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal `
              -UserId "SYSTEM" `
              -LogonType ServiceAccount `
              -RunLevel Highest

Register-ScheduledTask `
    -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup" `
    -Description "Purges IIS log files older than 30 days" `
    -Action $Action `
    -Trigger $Trigger `
    -Settings $Settings `
    -Principal $Principal

Step 3: Verify and run on demand

Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup" |
    Get-ScheduledTaskInfo

# Force-run it now to confirm it actually works
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup"

# Check it ran
Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup" |
    Get-ScheduledTaskInfo |
    Format-List LastRunTime, LastTaskResult, NumberOfMissedRuns

LastTaskResult should be 0. Anything else, check the script's log file and the Event Viewer (Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → TaskScheduler → Operational).

Step 4: Schedule on a non-time trigger

At Windows logon:

$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtLogOn -User "CORP\ops"

At system startup:

$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtStartup

On an event (e.g. when service MyService stops):

$EventQuery = @"
<QueryList>
  <Query Id="0" Path="System">
    <Select Path="System">*[System[Provider[@Name='Service Control Manager'] and EventID=7036]]</Select>
  </Query>
</QueryList>
"@
$Trigger = New-CimInstance -ClassName MSFT_TaskEventTrigger -Namespace Root/Microsoft/Windows/TaskScheduler `
                           -ClientOnly -Property @{ Enabled = $true; Subscription = $EventQuery }

Step 5: Export and version-control

Export-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup" |
    Out-File "C:\Repos\ops\tasks\nightly-iis-cleanup.xml" -Encoding UTF8

Import elsewhere:

Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Nightly IIS log cleanup" `
                       -Xml (Get-Content "C:\Repos\ops\tasks\nightly-iis-cleanup.xml" -Raw) `
                       -User "SYSTEM" -Force

Verify

Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object State -ne "Disabled" | Format-Table TaskName, State
Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational" -MaxEvents 20 |
    Select-Object TimeCreated, Id, Message

Conclusion

Task Scheduler beats cron in two places: rich triggers (on event, at logon, on idle), and per-task identity (Run as SYSTEM, a service account, or only when the user is signed in). It loses on simplicity — but New-ScheduledTask* makes it scriptable.

Next steps

• Install the OS itself with Install Windows Server 2022.
• For inbound rules see Windows Firewall via PowerShell.
• Set up web hosting with IIS Web Server on Windows.