schtasks with Powershell and script with space in argument

Question

I want to schedule a Powershell script with an argument that has a space in it with schtasks.exe. (Powershell Version 2, Windows 7). Bearing in mind what I’ve read in this forum I’ve come up with this expression to be entered in the Powershell commandline:

schtasks.exe /create /f /tn "Mytaskname" /tr "%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe  -command \`"& \`'D:\myscript.ps1\`' \`'D:\Filename with Space.xml\`'" /SD 08/04/2016 /ST 09:00 /RU domain\username  /RP /SC ONCE

Unfortunately this doesn’nt work. If I schedule the task manually it works showing me the following entries in the task planner:

Programm / script

%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Add arguments (optional)

-command "& 'D:\myscript.ps1' ''D:\Filename with Space.xml '"

Can anybody help? Thanks in advance

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 16 '16 at 17:15

I overlooked that it wasn’t even enough to mimic the string for "Add arguments (optional)" that worked well when scheduling a powershell scirpt with space in arguments manually. I transformed JosefZ's cmd script into a powershell script.

$Taskname = "MyTaskName"
$Powershellpath = "%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
$Powershellscript =  "D:\PShell\SO\36493932 with spaces.ps1"
$Argument = "D:\bat\a b\testfile.txt"
$userdomain =  “Domain”
$username = “User”

schtasks.exe /create /f /tn $Taskname /tr "$Powershellpath -command & \""\""\""$Powershellscript\""\""\"" \""\""\""$Argument\""\""\""" /SC ONCE /SD 10/04/2016 /ST 11:15 /RU $userdomain\$Username /RP

if($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)
{

    start-sleep -s 3
    schtasks /Run /TN $Taskname
    start-sleep -s 3
    schtasks /End /TN $Taskname
}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 08 '16 at 16:46

Read about escaping rules:

in command line (& ampersand character already escaped in double-quoted string)
in powershell (escape "" embedded double quotes)
in schtasks.exe (escape \" embedded double quotes: learn by example in this description)

Tested in following batch script. Note that ;pause in -command argument allows observing powershell script results for debugging purposes; auxiliary ST* variables are used merely for better readability (STn=name, STe=executable, STc=command, STp=parameter):

@ECHO ON
@SETLOCAL EnableExtensions
set "STn=MyTaskName"
set "STe=%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
set "STc=D:\PShell\SO\36493932 with spaces.ps1"
set "STp=D:\bat\a b\testfile.txt"
schtasks.exe /create /f /tn "%STn%" /tr "%STe% -command & \"\"\"%STc%\"\"\" \"\"\"%STp%\"\"\";pause" /SC ONCE /SD 10/04/2016 /ST 11:00
@rem /RU %USERDOMAIN%\%username% /RP
@timeout /T 3   >NUL
schtasks /Run /TN "%STn%"
@pause
schtasks /End /TN "%STn%"

and following powershell script (although this does not matter):

param([string] $InObject = $MyInvocation.InvocationName)
"{0} {1}" -f "listing:", "$InObject"
Get-Content "$InObject"

Output (note that powershell script output is visible in another window):

==> D:\bat\SO\36472103.bat

==> set "STn=MyTaskName"

==> set "STe=C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"

==> set "STc=D:\PShell\SO\36493932 with spaces.ps1"

==> set "STp=D:\bat\a b\testfile.txt"

==> schtasks.exe /create /f /tn "MyTaskName" /tr "C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.
0\powershell.exe -command & \"\"\"D:\PShell\SO\36493932 with spaces.ps1\"\"\" \"\"\"D:\bat\
a b\testfile.txt\"\"\";pause" /SC ONCE /SD 10/04/2016 /ST 11:00
SUCCESS: The scheduled task "MyTaskName" has successfully been created.

==> schtasks /Run /TN "MyTaskName"
SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "MyTaskName".
Press any key to continue . . .

==> schtasks /End /TN "MyTaskName"
SUCCESS: The scheduled task "MyTaskName" has been terminated successfully.

==>

schtasks with Powershell and script with space in argument

2 Answers2