Powershell – Windows 2008 R2 Scheduled Task Not Running With Admin Privileges even if granted

powershellscheduled-taskscriptingwindows-server-2008windows-server-2008-r2

I have a scheduled task that is running as USER. I have checked the box "Run with highest privileges" in the scheduled task properties. The task is a powershell script that, among other things, reboots the system. The script executes and runs normally, but as a scheduled task, it fails to reboot the system.

Here is the kicker: When I manually run the script as USER using the exact same command line as what's in the scheduled task, the script still runs but this time it actually reboots the system.

I have UAC disabled and USER is a member of the local Admins group. The local Admins group has the right to shut down the system. Nothing in the event logs offers any clues.

Why would the same script running under the same credentials work interactively but not as a scheduled task?

UPDATE: This is too weird. When the task ran on schedule, everything worked normally.

Best Answer

If you're running this as a power shell command you'll want to include the -Force option.

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The problem with the example you give is that notepad.exe requires an interactive session in order to display the UI. When you run a scheduled task there is no interactive session to host the UI.

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You need to Set-ExecutionPolicy so that the account running the scheduled task is allowed to execute PowerShell scripts:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope LocalMachine Unrestricted

As per the help file for Set-ExecutionPolicy, a scope of LocalMachine sets the policy for all users of that computer. As opposed to if you just Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted from your own user account, it only sets that policy for your own user account. Furthermore, there are also separate policies for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of PowerShell.

And if Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope LocalMachine Unrestricted is too much of a security compromise to you, you could set it just for that one user by logging in as that user and doing it, or executing a process under that user's security context and setting the policy for that user.

Oh, and well, this probably doesn't need to be said, but we can't know if the user you've assigned to this scheduled task has the permissions necessary to delete stuff from those UNC paths.

Best Answer

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Problem with scheduled task – portions of script do not execute

PowerShell script not completing what it should do when scheduled with Windows Task Scheduler

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