0

I am struggling with automating download of a file from website that opens a new tab when download is triggered and closes it right before the prompt to Save/Open/Close comes up in the main window. The script itself works just fine when launched manually until I try it in Task Scheduler. It runs great until it snags on the download. I've included a code to capture the URL of the file that needs to be downloaded and then pass it to Invoke-WebRequest which works fine out of PowerShell ISE but doesn't return any results when launched from Task Scheduler. I've included the counter and test file creation into the code to see if contents of do-while execute at all, and all 10 attempts were recorded. It's the part that searches through active URLs that's not returning results when launched via Task Scheduler.

# >> Keep trying to capture the CSV download link
$i = 1
Do {
    $i | Add-Content -Path "C:\userfolder\try.txt"
    $urls = (New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application).Windows() |
    Where-Object {$_.LocationUrl -like "https://sitename.com/ReportViewer*"} |
    Where-Object {$_.LocationUrl}
    $reportURL = @($urls)[0].LocationURL
    $i ++
    }
While ($reportURL -eq $NULL -and $i -le 10)

# >> Send download link to web request and save to file
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $reportURL -OutFile "C:\userfolder\ProfileList.csv"

I have tried the Wscript.Shell AppActivate and SendKeys('%S') before but the AppActivate wouldn't work probably because the PowerShell console window was hijakcing focus when launched via Task Scheduler. The task is set to execute powershell.exe with Arguments: C:\userfolder\CPdownload.ps1 -RunType $true, - and Start in: C:\userfolder. Run: only when user is logged in and with highest privileges; configured for Windows Server 2012 R2.

I've also tried launching the shell script through batch file from Task Scheduler with exactly the same result.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Elena
  • 1
  • 1

2 Answers2

0

Probably your task needs to be run in interactive mode. By default scheduled tasks are run in Session 0. You can schedule task for interactive mode with /IT parameter. Check the following link for more info

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb736357(VS.85).aspx

cezarypiatek
  • 1,078
  • 11
  • 21
0

Old post however besides changing the script to interactive mode (this fixes it) you can change the Powershell execution policy to unrestricted (Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted) if you wish to run the script outside of interactive mode. Just thought I'd post as recently come across this myself.

Orest H
  • 1