Is it possible to disable a scheduled task from the command line in Windows XP

command-line-interfacescheduled-taskwindows-xp

On my Windows 7 machine I can run something like:

schtasks.exe /Change /TN "MyTaskName" /Disable

But /Disable doesn't seem to be available in Windows XP – is there any way of disabling it from the command line?

Best Answer

The /disable switch is only a feature of Vista/7/2008R2/2012.

You can simply rename the task .job file to "disable" it.

schtasks /Create /SC HOURLY /TN "TEST TASK" /TR notepad
schtasks

TaskName                             Next Run Time            Status
==================================== ======================== ===============
TEST TASK                            09:45:00, 7/26/2010

move "C:\WINDOWS\Tasks\TEST TASK.job" "C:\WINDOWS\Tasks\TEST TASK.bak"
schtasks
INFO: There are no scheduled tasks present in the system.

In order to "enable" the task rename the .bak file to .job:

schtasks
INFO: There are no scheduled tasks present in the system.

move "C:\WINDOWS\Tasks\TEST TASK.bak" "C:\WINDOWS\Tasks\TEST TASK.job"
schtasks

TaskName                             Next Run Time            Status
==================================== ======================== ===============
TEST TASK                            09:45:00, 7/26/2010

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