Hourly Chime with Task Scheduler

I have been trying to setup an hourly chime sound to stop my Logitech Z906 sound system from switching off when no activity on my computer.
I copied this program that someone had used but cannot get it working on Task Scheduler..
Option Explicit


Dim sound : sound = "C:\Windows\Media\Alarm01.wav"

Dim o : Set o = CreateObject("wmplayer.ocx")
With o
.url = sound
.controls.play
While .playstate <> 1
wscript.sleep 100
Wend
.close
End With

Set o = Nothing

I saved it in Notepad as a .vbs file on my desktop.

If I double click on it on my desktop it works fine but not when on Task scheduler.

The following are my Task Scheduler Settings...



Can anyone see where I am going wrong?
Thanks in advance...

In the "Edit Action" panel, I think the program should be:
C:\Windows\system32\cscript

and the arguments should be:
"C:\Users\richa\Desktop\Logitech Sound.vbs"

margrave55 said:

In the "Edit Action" panel, I think the program should be:
C:\Windows\system32\cscript

and the arguments should be:
"C:\Users\richa\Desktop\Logitech Sound.vbs"

Thanks margrave55 just tried it and it worked.
Just need to see if it works every hour and change sound to something quieter.

- - - Updated - - -

Andrew129260 said:

a lot of people are saying if yours is doing this it is defective. Amazon has reviews where the speakers dont auto shut off on them, I would just return it. Why pay $300 for something that doesn't work correctly and needs to be messed with to work?

I didn't read anywhere or on Amazon that it shouldn't be doing this, other forums like Logitech ones are saying they all have this problem and have done stuff like this.

I also have spoken to Logitech and they say they are all like that if volume is low it switches off after a while unless you have volume higher which isn't pratical on a PC really.

I admit it does pee me off having to do this and am tempted to return them but not sure what to buy instead.

- - - Updated - - -

@Andrew129260 Just to clarify, Logitech have just told me the following...

According to European regulations, all loudspeakers sold in the EU must have a sleep mode. Z906 also has one. There is no way to adjust the delay before going into sleep mode. Activation normally takes about 20 to 30 minutes if no audio signal is received.

However in Logitechs wisdom it isn't a sleep mode it turns the power off completely and you have to press on/off button again to get sound back as it dosen't "wake up" when sound is detected again..!

This isn't required in USA so I guess that is why you don't have this problem Andrew.. good old EU glad we are getting out of it..lol

margrave55 said:

In the "Edit Action" panel, I think the program should be:
C:\Windows\system32\cscript

and the arguments should be:
"C:\Users\richa\Desktop\Logitech Sound.vbs"

I was experiencing the identical problem as the original poster. These edits fixed my problem as well. THANK YOU!

- - - Updated - - -

I'm running the same script as the Original Poster. (Source: How do I get Windows 10 to chime / beep on the hour? - Super User)

Is there any way to stop the cscript.exe window from splashing on the screen every hour, every time the script runs? Or a way to at least minimize it? I went into cscript.exe Properties but didn't see an option to Open Minimized or Run Minimized. If it just popped open using a small piece of real estate in an upper corner of the screen, I would be happy with that. Currently, it consumes almost the whole screen. Thanks!

I don't know if this will work on that script, but
instead of
C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe
you can try
C:\Windows\system32\wscript.exe

(wscript is the windows gui version of cscript, and unless there is an error or a request for any input, it sould not show anything on the screen, that's the way I understand it).

das10 said:

I don't know if this will work on that script, but
instead of
C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe
you can try
C:\Windows\system32\wscript.exe

(wscript is the windows gui version of cscript, and unless there is an error or a request for any input, it sould not show anything on the screen, that's the way I understand it).

That was beautiful! It works perfectly. It's finally honed to exactly what I wanted. Thank you so much!

You're welcome.

mangorunner said:

Is there any way to stop the cscript.exe window from splashing on the screen every hour, every time the script runs? Or a way to at least minimize it?

A couple archane things still worth noting about vbscripts that run under the Task Scheduler:

The console output of cscript.exe CAN be suppressed with the '//nologo' option added to the end of the argument like this:

"C:\Users\richa\Desktop\Logitech Sound.vbs" //nologo

The real difference for me between cscript.exe and wscript.exe involves the use of Wscript.Echo commands used for debugging such as:

Code:

Wscript.Echo "Debug text goes here"

With cscript.exe the text goes to the console and can be suppressed.
However with wscript.exe the text goes to a message box that demands interaction and can't be suppressed.





This then presents a problem with wscripts when running under:

"(●) Run whether user is logged on or not"

In this scenario the program runs in the background where the message box does not show, and yet the program is waiting for the user to hit the 'OK' button to remove this invisible message box.

It's just easier for me to use cscript.exe with the //nologo option for scripts that have ongoing 'Wscript.Echo' commands.