How do I rename a task in Task Scheduled on Windows Server 2008 R2
Solution 1:
Congratulations! You've come up against a problem that has stumped many a Windows user/admin. No, you cannot rename a task except for exporting, renaming and importing again. Yes, it's rather silly. Perhaps an enterprising scripter could create a simple PowerShell script that automates this, but until then, you're stuck with your export/import two-step. Sorry. =(
(You also can't rename a task folder after you've created it.)
Solution 2:
Not the best way but can be a life saver.
Tasks are stored in C:\Windows\System32\Tasks
in XML format importable using schtasks.exe
. As Weasly told, renaming the file doesn't work but Create/Delete will. That said, you need the running user password (that you have)
Compared to Weasly's suggestion, it just skips the export phase.
- create a second task using the first as template
- remove the original
Using srcname
and dstname
and an admin shell in Tasks folder:
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks>schtasks /Create /tn dstname /xml srcname /ru [running username] /rp [password]
SUCCESS: The scheduled task "dstname" has successfully been created.
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks>schtasks /delete /tn srcname /f
SUCCESS: The scheduled task "srcname" was successfully deleted.
Notes:
- With a little bit of scripting, you can rename a large bunch of tasks without effort
- If needed you should be able to extract the original RU from the XML (in node
Task/Principals/Principal/UserId
) - If you want schtasks to ask for the password, simply remove
/rp [password]
portion
Solution 3:
Unfortunately not. That's the way this is done now. I believe it's for security purposes, so that set tasks cannot be modified while they are actually setup and enabled.
Solution 4:
Please be sure before you answer "Cannot do this", "Impossible", etc.
Check out this power shell script.
Solution 5:
One possibility is, to export the task, delete the task, rename the file and import it again.
A good description can be found here: Rename task in task scheduler