Task scheduler - anyone??

Happened a few times recently.....

I return to my laptop and there is an error on screen saying that task
scheduler has stopped working and something about DEP.

I just opened TS via computer management and I get an instant message (not
MSN!)....
Catastrophic failure (exception from hresult 0x8000ffff (E_Unexpected))
This is accompanied by another that says....
An error has occurred for task reminders - Jay. Error message: The specified
account name is not valid.

Any ideas?

I get these in the system event log:
Task Scheduler service failed to launch tasks triggered by computer startup.
Additional Data: Error Value: 2147549183. User Action: restart task
scheduler service.
and
The Net.Msmq Listener Adapter service depends the following service: msmq.
This service might not be installed.

These entries appear daily but not at the same time (5.30pm or 6.30pm or
7.30pm)

I seem to have several tasks (all unknown to me) that stopped/started around
the time tonight's errors occurred.

Hotstart (running)
NAPStatus (stopped at same time hotstart started)
Reminders - Jay (last run succeeded at same time other 2 stopped/started)

The above could be coincidental as I rebooted around this time.

Help please.

are you using the same logon/password that you used when the schedule was created.

I may have changed my password on my account named "Jay" which is an admin
account
Which may explain this message - An error has occurred for task reminders -
Jay. Error message: The specified
account name is not valid.

But then I don't remember creating any scheduled tasks.
I have experience with TS in Win2k, XP and Win2.3k but this new interface
has me lost.
It doesn't help having catastophic errors while trying to nav through the
nodes either.
I can't find the particular task (reminder??) it is referring to in order to
edit it or whatever needs doing.

[micromouse]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First off, must give credit where credit is due so here is the link to the author who provided the actual fix:

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12546_10...sageID=2784696

Now for a concise fix here so folks don't have to take the jump and read more gobbledygook that necessary. The Catastrophic error that you and I and everyone else are seeing is TOTALLY DIFFERENT than the normal corrupt msfeeds update fix so please try that fix if you wish but don't expect positive results. The cause here is a bad task somewhere else in the chain. Sadly, there is no easy to way to determine this so you're gonna need to do some hunting and pecking. Please perform the following steps:

1. Go to C:\Windows\system32\Tasks and make a backup of all the tasks there somewhere else on your drive. I copied the whole folder content to my Documents folder.

2. Take a quick look and see if there are any rogue tasks there that look like they're old XP leftovers that snuck in somehow during your Vista install and subsequent restore of stuff you used on your old XP box. The author at the link above found UniBlue's SpeedUpMyPC task caused his problem. In my case, the cause was a GoogleUpdateTaskUser task that was incompatible with Vista's Task Scheduler. IF you spot those off the bat easily, just delete it and see if your TS works properly again. In my case, the deletion of that one simple file fixed me completely.

3. If you are not fortunate enough to find a rogue task off the bat, you will have some work ahead of you. Please delete everything in your Tasks directory (safe since you DO have a backup from step 1) and see if your Task Scheduler starts normally. It's virtually impossible it won't at that point and if it doesn't, then this technique is not for you and I would put everything back the way it was and continue to work with MS Support. Provided it does work normally, the work begins.

4. Begin adding everything from your Task directory backup into the System32\Tasks directory ONE BY ONE. Tedious, yes, but the only way you'll find out what's causing problems. So add each task back in, fire up your scheduler and see if it behaves. Provided it does, continue adding until you find the broken task. You may have several so take your time! Once your done, keep those bad tasks out of that directory and seek fixes from the applicable software provider.

[asdfHelps]

Yesss! thank you very much. I have now seen three similar cases with the Google updater as culprit. Excellent help notes friend. I got rid also of an old nagging Winders Calendar reminder error.

I'm really happy this helped. Microsoft REALLY dropped the ball with
respect to Vista and Task Scheduler documentation/support for the
average home user. It's ridiculous that it took me so long to find a
fix for this and it was SO SIMPLE! Even some of the more knowledgeable
tech guys have been stymied by the Catastrophic "bug" or feature -
whatever the Redmond guys are calling their oversights these days.
Certainly it appears Google takes some share of the blame as their task
is causing a majority of this grief, but clearly it's not just the one
google task to blame. Redmond needs to document the proper steps to fix
this specific error and definitely come up with a cleaning tool that
does it automatically for anyone inconvenienced by its appearance. I'm
cross posting this at Microsoft Technet and Google support in the hopes
that they'll partner up on cleaning the Google task up and prevent any
other tasks from causing the same error moving forward.

[box293]

I came across this error after syspreping a Windows 2008 server (basically changing the computer name), Fix will also apply to Vista

• Open windows explorer
• Browse to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\WindowsCalendar\
• Select Reminders - <username>
• Right click Reminders - <username> and select Delete
• Click Yes to delete the task
• Close windows Explorer
• Open Task Scheduler
• Error should not appear

NOTE: There might be more than one Reminders - <username> task that needs deleting