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I use Task Scheduler to run a .bat file that zips and encrypts files and does a nightly backup of them to an external drive. I have used this for years and it has worked just fine. Starting a couple of months ago, the task is getting disabled in Task Scheduler and I cannot figure out why. I can enable it, and it will run again, but then gets disabled again the same day or in the next day or two. Then I noticed that it is not just this task, but other scheduled tasks (that I did not write) that are also getting disabled, all at the same time. Things like Google software update are getting disabled too.

I have been looking at the task history to see when tasks are disabled, and there is no common denominator that I can think of.

When I restart, all tasks are enabled. But what causes them to be disabled?????

AlisonP
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  • I'm getting the same issue as well. Really odd, because this task (a simple exe file I coded up in c#) used to work for months. Also, when I log in to Windows, it shows up as "enabled" but I'll come back hours later to find it "disabled." No errors in running the exe, and also, I can run the exe without any issue manually. I'd like to hear from others who might have a solution to this. – Nicholas Pisca Jan 27 '21 at 00:50
  • Same issue here. Scripts can run fine for days on end and suddenly stop working. When I open the task scheduler all I see is disabled tasks. Not just my custom ones but all the system tasks too. I can't think of anything I'm running that would even have permissions to do this. – AndyOR Jun 16 '21 at 19:54

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I had this for months before I narrowed it down; with the help of posts from the likes of Paul above. Every task kept getting disabled, sometimes several times a day. In my case it was AVG anti-virus. In AVG settings there is a tools menu, in there is a series of check boxes called "Do Not Disturb Mode". It seems AVG is trying to 'help' the user by not disturbing him if he is running a program full screen by turning off notifications, but it's over zealous and turns off all tasks too. I unchecked all those tick boxes and didn't have the problem for two months. Then as a test I turned them on again and the tasks got disabled in just an hour or so. I have had several AVG updates over the period and it's still present, so I don't think it's a bug as much as a feature.

M61Vulcan
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  • Please see Paul's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/67384305/2227743 – Eric Aya Jul 11 '21 at 12:54
  • Thanks very much for providing this information, M61Vulcan. This problem is still persisting for me. I've wondered all along if it had anything to do with anti-virus programs, but I do not use Avast. I do use AVG, and I just went and unchecked all of those boxes. Crossing my fingers bigtime as this has been such a royal PITA to deal with. I will report back in a while if this works for me. – AlisonP Jul 12 '21 at 16:58
  • Oh, and are there any undesired side effects from unchecking all of those boxes? – AlisonP Jul 12 '21 at 16:59
  • The worst that'll happen is that you'll see more notifications if you're in full screen. – M61Vulcan Jul 12 '21 at 23:28
  • Thank you M61Vulcan! This seems to have solved the problem and I am thrilled! After many months of struggling with this, and having to check whether the tasks had been disabled all the time and enable if so, I am delighted to say that since I did your suggested fix ALL tasks have remained enabled. It's been only one day, but that's enough for me to know this is the solution. A huge thank you to you! – AlisonP Jul 13 '21 at 15:21
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I had the same problem that started in the last few weeks.

If you are running Avast anti-virus, there is bug [feature] that disables scheduled tasks and apparently never re-enables them. See this link: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=249063.0

Paul
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  • Thanks much for posting your solution.I wish I were running Acast, as that might solve the problem, but I do not use it. So frustrating. I have to check to see if the script ran every day. – AlisonP May 07 '21 at 05:16
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I had this problem last year. I believe if my memory serves me right that it happens when the Win 10 clock doesn't synchronise and the W32time service has stopped for some reason. If you go into task manager and select services, look for W32time and see if it is running. If it isn't right click and restart it

ABP
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I had this problem last year. I believe if my memory serves me right that it happens when the Win 10 clock doesn't synchronise and the W32time service has stopped for some reason. If you go into task manager and select services, look for W32time and see if it is running. If it isn't right click and restart it "Maintains date and time synchronization on all clients and servers in the network. If this service is stopped, date and time synchronization will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start." Also check on Windows services for Windows Time to see if it is in manual or Automatic and change it to auto start (W32time)

ABP
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Wow, thanks for this post. Would never have found out why my scheduled tasks are being disabled. I thought i was being hacked ! Ironically it is Avast's "Do not disturb feature". I had an app to auto-restart, and when this app restarted at the same clock time, all of my scheduled tasks would be disabled. Avast automatically decides to set multiple apps to "Do not disturb = True".

More details: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=249063.0

captain vaseline
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I have solved my issue by making changes in task conditions.

Awordy021
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  • As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Jun 08 '23 at 16:00
  • While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/34515150) – Abraam Magued Jun 13 '23 at 14:57