How to Use Windows 7 Task Scheduler to Start Applications in User Session

Even though this is an older thread, I'd like to add a solution I devised that works well.

I wanted to run a script or batch file whenever a shutdown or restart was initiated, but I didn't want to use Group Policies Shutdown Scripts function. The reason for this was pretty in depth, but I basically needed to run a script before certain services were closed.

I ended up creating a scheduled task as follows:

• Type : On Event (Basic)
• Log : System
• Source : User32
• EventID : 1074

When a user or command initiates a shutdown or restart as a logged on user or on a user's behalf, event ID 1074 will fire. By creating a task to use this to trigger a script, it will start the script and allow it to finish, however it will only report the task as "running" or "triggered" in the logs. I have not used this with a long script, so it may be worth testing further, but it works great for short scripts.

There are several things you need to watch for when you schedule a task.

One of the main ones I found is the timing.

For example, let's say it's 0018h right now and you schedule a task to run at 0000h daily every 5 minutes. You make all settings, put all conditions, test-start the task and it's fine, all seems good but the task will not start even if the conditions are met. That happens because of the exceeded schedule. It will only start at the next 0000h. So if it's 0018h and you actually want to see the task working, put it at an immediately later time instead, like 0024h and make sure that the set time is not exceeded while you're configuring it.

Then, you can make sure other conditions are fine, like the ones related to power-states, network availability, success state.

Another very important aspect: make sure the credentials used to run it have enough privileges to actually run it. That part is easier to check because you can manually test it.