Run Cron Job on PHP Script, on localhost in Windows

recently I had sort of problems to run a cron job on a php script on localhost (WAMP server) in windows 7, when I was on a test to chronically fetch some links from www out there.

By the way I am sharing this for anyone that is on the same thing.

You will need a shellscript to run chronically, using Windows Task Scheduler. Also you will need a batch script (script.bat) to call the php.exe and run your php script (here called as my_process.php)

shellscript.vbs

Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WinScriptHost.Run Chr(34) & "C:\path\to\script\script.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WinScriptHost = Nothing

script.bat

"C:\wamp\bin\php\php5.4.12\php.exe" -f "C:\wamp\www\website\my_process.php"

Now, we are ready to set the Windows Task Scheduler to run shellscript.vbs at the required time interval:

1. Open Task Scheduler from windows Start menu
2. Go to Action menu and hit Create Task...
3. in General tab, fill the Name and Description fields as you want
4. in Triggers tab, hit New button.
5. from Begin the Task dropdown, select On a schedule and choose Daily
6. from Advanced settings section, select Repeat task every as you want and set for a duration on Indefinitely.
7. on Actions tab, from Action dropdown, select Start a program.
8. on the Program\script box, enter path to shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs.
9. leave Add argumentts (optional) section empty.
10. in Start in (optional) box, enter parent directory of shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\.
11. Hit upvote on this tutorial :) Have fun.

If you use answer from Trix and get same problem as Metafaniel:

I have a problem, with this procedure, the task is beinge executed, however my php script it's not running, I got the "Open with" dialogue. If I see the properties of my task, it states: ActionName C:\Windows\system32\OpenWith.exe even if I set it to the vbs file as you suggested. What am I doing wrong?

you should use this:

8. Instead "enter path to shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs." use "C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe"
9. Instead "leave Add argumentts (optional) section empty" use (with quotes): "C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs"

To setup a Windows machine to run cron.php at a specific time follow the specific instructions below. This can be useful if you are not familiar with Linux/Unix, or if your web host does not offer the ability to run cron jobs; you can run them remotely from your own computer.

Note: These instructions were written for Windows XP but should be similar in other versions of Windows.

https://www.drupal.org/node/31506