task scheduler powershell scripts never ends

Question

I have a script that works great manually. However, when I schedule it in Task Scheduler, the script never ends and so the next time it tries to run, it fails because the prior instance is still running. The script itself takes a few seconds to complete the first time or when run manually. Here is the script:

$source = "\\server1\upload"
$destination = "\\server2\upload"
$logfile = "c:\Scripts\fileMover\log.txt"
$table = Get-ChildItem $source -include *
foreach ($file in $table){
    $filename = $file.FullName
    #write-host $filename
    try
    {
        move-item -LiteralPath $filename -destination $destination -force
        $body = "Successfully moved $filename to $destination"
        $subject = "fileMover Succeeded"
    }
    catch
    {
        $body = "Failed to move $filename to $destination"
        $subject = "fileMover Failed"
    }
    finally
    {
        $body | out-file $logfile -append -width 1000 -encoding ascii
        Send-MailMessage -To "[email protected]" -From "[email protected]" -Subject $subject -SmtpServer "10.1.10.1" -Body $body
        exit
    }
}
exit

The script is scheduled with the following settings:

Run whether user is logged or not (user account has been granted log in as a batch program privilege)
Run with highest privileges
Triggers Daily, every 2 minute
Action: Start a Program powershell -file c:\Scripts\upload.ps1

As a workaround, I configured the task to automatically stop after 1 minute. However, I'm concerned that in certain circumstances -- such as a large number of large files -- the script may get terminated before completing fully.

The script needs to run every 2 minutes.

Try appending 'Start-Transcript "C:\Scripts\Upload-Transcript.txt" to the start of your script, and see if it's throwing errors when running via task scheduler, it may be prompting for email credentials or something, and getting stuck there. — colsw
Thanks for the suggestion Connor. I did as suggested, but no errors were thrown. — Doug
I've narrowed the problem down to the send-mailmessage. When run manually, the script runs within a few seconds. However, when run as a task, it takes around a minute per file. Rather than sending a confirmation for each file processed, I rewrote the script to send the a single email at the end of the process. This doesn't explain the delay when run as a task, but it has fixed my problem for now. — Doug

TomD TomD · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-15T13:18:52

I had this problem when trying to execute .ps1 file directly. Execute Powershell and feed it your script as a parameter.

Scheduled Task Actions Tab:

Program\script: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Add Arguments (optional):
-command & 'E:\PowerShell_scripts\Script_name.ps1’

task scheduler powershell scripts never ends

3 Answers