How to find the location of the Scheduled Tasks folder
By JoelFan 38.9k3838 gold badges143143 silver badges218218 bronze badges
Published: 2010-05-26 · Archived: 2026-04-05 19:27:27 UTC
I have seen references online that state that 'Scheduled Tasks' in Windows are stored in %SystemRoot%\Tasks ,
which I think usually equates to C:\Windows\Tasks .
However, I observe that while that folder exists on my Windows 7 system, Scheduled tasks doesn't use it.
My system appears to use, C:\Windows\System32\Tasks .
I have studied the Environment variables and there doesn't seem to be anything related to Scheduled Tasks
there.
How do I discover which folder is used for Scheduled tasks?
WonderWorker
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asked May 26, 2010 at 14:23
3
Tasks are saved in filesystem AND registry
Tasks are stored in 3 locations: 1 file system location and 2 registry locations.
File system:
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks
Registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tasks
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tree
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2913816/how-to-find-the-location-of-the-scheduled-tasks-folder
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So, you need to delete a corrupted task in these 3 locations.
answered Oct 7, 2015 at 10:13
Jan
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3 Comments
The registry Taskcache really helped me, thanks! I had a backup of the whole registry of my old Windows install,
while the tasks themselves were already gone (with the Windows).
2016-10-01T22:57:07.82Z+00:00
Thanks alot, this solved my problem. Surprisingly many google links do show non working solutions not
mentioning the hidden folder in the file system
2018-09-19T15:57:33.157Z+00:00
There are also tasks in %SystemRoot%\Tasks ( C:\Windows\Tasks ), which under certain conditions don't show up
in the Task Scheduler snap-in.
2019-01-06T01:49:32.48Z+00:00
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2913816/how-to-find-the-location-of-the-scheduled-tasks-folder
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I want to extend @Jan answer:
It's seems, that Task Scheduler 1.0 API uses C:\Windows\Tasks folder for create and enumerate tasks (this
example), while Task Scheduler 2.0 API uses C:\Windows\System32\Tasks to create and enumerate tasks (this
example).
It's also seems, that windows console utility schtasks and GUI utility taskschd.msc uses Task Scheduler 2.0
API .
P.S. I found, that if task placed in C:\Windows\Tasks and have not set AccountInformation , then task won't be
displayed in windows console and GUI schedulers. If you set AccountInformation (even "" for SYSTEM
account) and set flag TASK_FLAG_RUN_ONLY_IF_LOGGED_ON - task will be displayed in all standard applications.
Solution found here
bhristov
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answered Mar 28, 2018 at 8:03
murzagurskiy
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Comments
For Windows 7 and up, scheduled tasks are not run by cmd.exe , but rather by MMC (Microsoft Management
Console). %SystemRoot%\Tasks should work on any other Windows version though.
Drew Chapin
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answered Jan 22, 2012 at 4:42
Comments
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2913816/how-to-find-the-location-of-the-scheduled-tasks-folder
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Looks like TaskCache registry data is in ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache
... on my Windows 10 PC (i.e. add Schedule before TaskCache and TaskCache has an upper case C).
answered Jan 10, 2016 at 8:13
Comments
There are multiple issues with the MMC however as on almost every PC in my business the ask scheduler API
will not open and has somehow been corrupted. So you cannot edit, delete or otherwise modify tasks that were
developed before the API decided not to run anymore. The only way we have found to fix that issue is to totally
wipe away a persons profile under the C:\Users\ area and force the system to recreate the log in once the person
logs back in. This seems to fix the API issue and it works again, however the tasks are often not visible anymore
to that user since the tasks developed are specific to the user and not the machine in Windows 7. The other odd
thing is that sometimes, although not with any frequency that can be analyzed, the tasks still run even though the
API is corrupted and will not open. The cause of this issue is apparently not known but there are many "fixes"
described on various websites, but the user profile deletion and adding anew seems to work every time for at least
a little while. The tasks are saved as XML now in WIN 7, so if you do find them in the system32/tasks folder you
can delete them, or copy them to a new drive and then import them back into task scheduler. We went with the
system scheduler software from Splinterware though since we had the same corruption issue multiple times even
with the fix that does not seem to be permanent.
answered Oct 17, 2013 at 21:43
Comments
On newer versions of Windows (Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016) the tasks you create are located in
C:\Windows\Tasks . They will have the extension .job
For example if you create the task "DoWork" it will create the task in
C:\Windows\Tasks\DoWork.job
answered Oct 18, 2016 at 2:02
TechnoTim
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2913816/how-to-find-the-location-of-the-scheduled-tasks-folder
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2 Comments
In my Windows Server 2016 instance tasks are located in `C:\Windows\System32\Tasks` and they are XML files
with no extension.
2019-02-07T03:10:38.56Z+00:00
in Windows 11 22H2 they are also still saved in C:\Windows\System32\Tasks
2023-01-07T19:07:04.967Z+00:00
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