The system cannot find the file specified- Task Scheduler. Win Server 2012

Question

I have batch script file, which should encrypt a file with pgp. I have defined a task in task scheduler to do this, but I am keep receiving the error"The system cannot find the file specified".

Interestingly, when I run the same line of script in my powershell , the encrypted file is successfully generated.

I was wondering if anyone knows what can possibly be wrong here?

I tried to give the full path in my batch script , and also added the pass in start in part, when defining the action.

the batch scrip code is here::

rem @echo off 
@set path=c:\test;%path%

@set d=%date:~-4,4%%date:~4,2%%date:~-7,2% 
@set d=%d: =_% 
@set t=%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2% @set t=%t: =0%

Rem  Generate PGP encrypted file 
@echo Starting PGP... >> c:\apps\ftpLogs\test.log 
gpg2 --batch --yes -r testkey --output c:\test\foo\test_20150505.pgp --encrypt c:\test\foo\test_20150505.txt >> c:\apps\ftpLogs\test.log

and the script that I ran in my powershell, which works fine, is this line:

gpg2 --batch --yes -r testkey --output c:\test\foo\test_20150505.pgp --encrypt c:\test\foo\test_20150505.txt >> c:\apps\ftpLogs\test.log

where it's stored ? can you like place the .exe in the c:\test in exemple ? I wonder if the account the task run under got access there — yagmoth555, May 06 '15 at 00:33
1. Add `echo CD=%CD%` to the top of your script and `pause` to the bottom; 2. Run the script from command line or double click: error? 3. Run the script from Task Scheduler. 4. Compare `echo CD=%CD%` output... — JosefZ, May 06 '15 at 00:33
@yagmoth555 it's in c:\apps\GnuPG , it should have access, as this task was working in our old server 2008. I will move it to C:\ and will let u know the results in a minute — user 12321, May 06 '15 at 00:36
@JosefZ I added echo CD=%CD% but it seems that my task is not stop running having this in the script file. — user 12321, May 06 '15 at 00:39
@yagmoth555 now it's giving an error saying "the extended attributes are inconsistent " — user 12321, May 06 '15 at 00:43
it seem to have found the .exe. the task is put to run elevated with all privilege ? — yagmoth555, May 06 '15 at 00:45

user 12321 · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-04T18:38:26.903

Finally I was able to resolve the issue. The problem was with the user authority. The batch script was suppose to encrypt a file and then ftp the encrypted file to the vendor's ftp server.

Apparently in Windows Server 2012 , the ADMINISTRATORS have the permission to create a file (here the encrypted file) while this user does not have the permission to send it. and SYSTEM user has the permission to send but not to create. (Both of them had this authority back in Win Server 2008).

hence what did I do at the end, was to make two different batch script tasks and schedule them with 10 mins time distance. The first one was running the above code with ADMINISTRATOR privileges and the second one was sending it out with SYSTEMS.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 28 '20 at 17:53

I had this same error, but in my case it only occurred when running the task as a Service account; the task worked fine when running as my domain user. The error was basically a red herring, and instead ended up being due to using the GUI to select an option that may be unsupported. Basically, don't set "If the task is already running..." to "Stop the existing instance". Use any of the other 3 options.

More detailed info here.

The system cannot find the file specified- Task Scheduler. Win Server 2012

2 Answers2

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