How to Enable or Disable Scheduled Task in Windows 10


The Task Scheduler enables you to automatically perform routine tasks on a chosen computer. With this service, you can schedule any program to run at a convenient time for you or when a specific event occurs. Task Scheduler does this by monitoring whatever criteria you choose (referred to as triggers) and then executing the tasks when those criteria are met.

Sometimes you may need to enable and disable scheduled tasks on demand as needed.

When a task is enabled, it will show its current status as Ready or Running.

When a task is disabled, it will show its current status as Disabled.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable one or more scheduled tasks from Task Scheduler in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

Contents

• Option One: Enable or Disable Scheduled Task(s) in Task Scheduler
• Option Two: Enable or Disable Specific Scheduled Task in Command Prompt
• Option Three: Enable or Disable Specific Scheduled Task in PowerShell
• Option Four: Enable or Disable All Scheduled Tasks in a Folder in PowerShell

OPTION ONE

Enable or Disable Scheduled Task(s) in Task Scheduler

1 Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type taskschd.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Task Scheduler.

2 In the left pane of Task Scheduler, navigate to and open the folder (ex: "Custom Folder") the task(s) you want to enable or disable are located in. (see screenshots below)

3 In the middle pane of the opened folder (ex: "Custom Folder"), select one or more task(s) you want to enable or disable.

You can press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking on a task to select more than one task.

4 Perform either action below to enable or disable the selected tasks depending in their current status.

To Disable Task(s):

• Click/tap on Disable under Selected Items in the right Actions pane.
• Click/tap on Action (Alt+A) on the toolbar, and click/tap on Disable (Alt+i).
• Right click on the selected task(s), and click/tap on Disable.

To Enable Task(s):

• Click/tap on Enable under Selected Items in the right Actions pane.
• Click/tap on Action (Alt+A) on the toolbar, and click/tap on Enable (Alt+E).
• Right click on the selected task(s), and click/tap on Enable.

5 When finished, you can close Task Scheduler if you like.

OPTION TWO

Enable or Disable Specific Scheduled Task in Command Prompt

To see more schtasks /Change command usage details, go to: Schtasks.exe | Microsoft Docs

1 Open a command prompt or elevated command prompt depending on which account the task uses.

If you get an access denied error message when running the command below, then it means you will need to run the command in an elevated command prompt.

2 Do step 3 (disable) or step 4 (enable) below for what you want to do.

 3. To Disable a Specific Scheduled Task in Command Prompt

A) Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(If task is in root "Task Scheduler Library" folder)
schtasks /Change /TN "<task name>" /Disable

OR

(If task is in a folder other than root folder)
schtasks /Change /TN "<folder location>\<task name>" /Disable

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task is located in Task Scheduler.

Substitute <task name> in the command above with the actual task name (ex: "Example task") you want to disable.

For example: schtasks /Change /TN "\Custom Folder\Example task" /Disable

 4. To Enable a Specific Scheduled Task in Command Prompt

A) Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(If task is in root "Task Scheduler Library" folder)
schtasks /Change /TN "<task name>" /Enable

OR

(If task is in a folder other than root folder)
schtasks /Change /TN "<folder location>\<task name>" /Enable

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task is located in Task Scheduler.

Substitute <task name> in the command above with the actual task name (ex: "Example task") you want to enable.

For example: schtasks /Change /TN "\Custom Folder\Example task" /Enable

5 When finished, you can close the command prompt if you like.

OPTION THREE

Enable or Disable Specific Scheduled Task in PowerShell

This option is not available in Windows 7.

1 Open Windows PowerShell or elevated Windows PowerShell depending on which account the task uses.

If you get an access denied error message when running the command below, then it means you will need to run the command in an elevated Windows PowerShell.

2 Do step 3 (disable) or step 4 (enable) below for what you want to do.

 3. To Disable a Specific Scheduled Task in Windows PowerShell

To see more Disable-ScheduledTask command usage details, go to: Disable-ScheduledTask | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into Windows PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(If task is in root "Task Scheduler Library" folder)
Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskName "<task name>"

OR

(If task is in a folder other than root folder)
Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "<folder location>\" -TaskName "<task name>"

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task is located in Task Scheduler.

Substitute <task name> in the command above with the actual task name (ex: "Example task") you want to disable.

For example: Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Custom Folder\" -TaskName "Example task"

 4. To Enable a Specific Scheduled Task in Windows PowerShell

To see more Enable-ScheduledTask command usage details, go to: Enable-ScheduledTask | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into Windows PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(If task is in root "Task Scheduler Library" folder)
Enable-ScheduledTask -TaskName "<task name>"

OR

(If task is in a folder other than root folder)
Enable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "<folder location>\" -TaskName "<task name>"

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task is located in Task Scheduler.

Substitute <task name> in the command above with the actual task name (ex: "Example task") you want to enable.

For example: Enable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Custom Folder\" -TaskName "Example task"

5 When finished, you can close Windows PowerShell if you like.

OPTION FOUR

Enable or Disable All Scheduled Tasks in a Folder in PowerShell

This option is not available in Windows 7.

To see more Get-ScheduledTask command usage details, go to: Get-ScheduledTask | Microsoft Docs

1 Open Windows PowerShell or elevated Windows PowerShell depending on which account the task uses.

If you get an access denied error message when running the command below, then it means you will need to run the command in an elevated Windows PowerShell.

2 Do step 3 (disable) or step 4 (enable) below for what you want to do.

 3. To Disable All Scheduled Tasks in a Folder in Windows PowerShell

To see more Disable-ScheduledTask command usage details, go to: Disable-ScheduledTask | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into Windows PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "<folder location>\" | Disable-ScheduledTask

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task(s) are located in Task Scheduler.

For example: Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Custom Folder\" | Disable-ScheduledTask

 4. To Enable All Scheduled Tasks in a Folder in Windows PowerShell

To see more Enable-ScheduledTask command usage details, go to: Enable-ScheduledTask | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into Windows PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "<folder location>\" | Enable-ScheduledTask

Substitute <folder location> in the command above with the actual folder path (ex: "\Custom Folder") the task(s) are located in Task Scheduler.

For example: Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Custom Folder\" | Enable-ScheduledTask

5 When finished, you can close Windows PowerShell if you like.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

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