Task Scheduler Problems and Analysis in Build 10061

[NoelC]

With build 10061, tasks scheduled before the upgrade to 10061 are somehow still running when they should, but they do not appear in the various Task Scheduler UIs. 

 

Newly scheduled tasks show up, implying Microsoft is adding some kind of additional check.  We can guess that maybe it's to "enhance security", or maybe just another way to hide things from we users who would otherwise choose to disable things we don't want running (coughOneDrivecough).

 

Anyhow, the problem needs solving.  For those of us doing upgrades, we need to be able to control what's already scheduled (we can of course just install Windows 10 afresh from an ISO next time they bring one out, but that day is not this day).

 

I've never investigated where the Task Scheduler stores its info, mostly because it's always worked, so I never became interested in finding out more.

 

A few quick tests and some snooping turns up some XML files in Windows\System32\Tasks, and some corresponding entries in the registry at [ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Schedule \ TaskCache \ Tasks].

 

There are also registry entries at [ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Schedule \ TaskCache \ Tree ], and these are particularly interesting, because those that do show properly in the 10061 UI have a REG_BINARY value called SD, while those that do not have no SD.

 

Could an SD value be a new requirement for scheduled task entries?

 

On a practical note, ridding the system of unwanted previously scheduled tasks (e.g., so as to add new ones that show in the UI under the new rules) might be as simple as finding them under [ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Schedule \ TaskCache \ Tree ], then searching for the GUIDs and eliminating all entries that correspond.  I'm testing that now.

 

-Noel