Setting up a cron job in Windows

Question

I have to download a file from an SFTP server everyday. I have the program which retrieves the file from the server but I was thinking of setting up a cron job (or anything similar) to automate that. We are a Windows shop and need to set up the cron job in Windows.

Answer 1

The windows equivalent to a cron job is a scheduled task.

A scheduled task can be created as described by Alex and Rudu, but it can also be done command line with schtasks (if you for instance need to script it or add it to version control).

An example:

schtasks /create /tn calculate /tr calc /sc weekly /d MON /st 06:05 /ru "System"

Creates the task calculate, which starts the calculator(calc) every monday at 6:05 (should you ever need that.)

All available commands can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772785%28WS.10%29.aspx

It works on windows server 2008 as well as windows server 2003.

Answer 2

1. Make sure you logged on as an administrator or you have the same access as an administrator.
2. Start->Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Task Scheduler
3. Action->Create Basic Task->Type a name and Click Next
4. Follow through the wizard.

Answer 3

There's pycron which I really as a Cron implementation for windows, but there's also the built in scheduler which should work just fine for what you need (Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks -> Add Scheduled Task).

Answer 4

If you don't want to use Scheduled Tasks you can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux which will allow you to use cron jobs like on Linux.

To make sure cron is actually running you can type service cron status from within the Linux terminal. If it isn't currently running then type service cron start and you should be good to go.

Answer 5

I would like to thank @Vincent Stevenson, @s-hunter

Go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Task Scheduler--> Create Task

1. Task Scheduler, Create Task

2. Give the Task a title

3. Go to Actions

4. Go to CMD to find the path,

   Python, import sys, sys.executable

   (this tells you what the Program/script field should be populated with: "some path with Appdata mostly")

   like:C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\python.exe

5. Arguments: name of the python script (like run.py)

6. Start in: dir location of python script (like:C:\Users\admin\Documents\my_python_project)

7. Go to Triggers, schedule as you like

8. Test the script by running it

Answer 6

For those wanting to use cron in Windows 10/11 with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Here are the steps needed:

1. Install a linux distribution
2. Setup crontab
3. Create Windows scheduled task so WSL gets run on startup

1. Install a linux distribution

Open a powershell (admin) terminal. Run

wsl --list --online

Choose one the distros available and install one by running

wsl --install -d <Distro>

2. Setup crontab

Open a powershell (admin) terminal. Run

wsl

You should be in the bash linux distro command line now (first time you might be prompted to create a user/pass. Do so). Run

sudo service cron status

To see if cron is running. If it isn't, run

sudo service cron start

Check again the status, it should be running now.

To edit the cron job, run

crontab -e

For example (backup the pic directory at 20:58 everyday):

58 20 * * * rsync -av /mnt/c/Users/jlo/Pictures/ /mnt/c/Users/jlo/PicBackup/$(date +\%Y\%m\%d\%H\%M\%S)/

Save and exit

3. Create a Windows scheduled task so WSL gets run on startup

a) In order for the Windows scheduled task to run WSL on startup without requiring to enter a password every time it runs the 'service start cron' command, you need to edit visudo by running:

sudo visudo

And adding at the bottom of the file the following:

%sudo ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/service cron start

Save and exit.

b) Create a scheduled task

Open Start > Type 'Task scheduler' > Create basic task > Trigger: 'when the computer starts' > Action 'Start a program' > C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe > In the 'Add arguments' field, add

sudo /usr/sbin/service cron start

Save the task. It should now be listed among the other tasks in the Task scheduler.

And you're good to go. I suggest restarting the machine and checking if cron is running (PS admin terminal > wsl > sudo service cron status) and if it's running, configure and test your first cron job. Enjoy!

Some sources I used to figure this out:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/basic-commands

• https://www.howtogeek.com/746532/how-to-launch-cron-automatically-in-wsl-on-windows-10-and-11/

• https://web.archive.org/web/20180217043628/http://webgnuru.com/linux/rsync_incremental.php

Answer 7

There are also cmdlets in powershell for this:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/scheduledtasks/new-scheduledtask?view=windowsserver2022-ps#example-2-define-a-scheduled-task-with-multiple-actions

The linked example:

PS C:\> $actions = (New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'foo.ps1'), (New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'bar.ps1')
PS C:\> $trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At '9:15 AM'
PS C:\> $principal = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserId 'DOMAIN\user' -RunLevel Highest
PS C:\> $settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable -WakeToRun
PS C:\> $task = New-ScheduledTask -Action $actions -Principal $principal -Trigger $trigger -Settings $settings

PS C:\> Register-ScheduledTask 'baz' -InputObject $task