Windows 7 Task Scheduler is giving me an error saying "The specified account name is not valid"?

13

2

I am running Windows 7 on a Dell Precision workstation. I started having this issue right after changing my PC name. I get the error message when in the Task Scheduler Library folder and right-click a task to Disable it.

Also, when I click Create Basic Task I get an error saying "Task Scheduler service is not available or the folder does not exist. Verify that the service is running and that the folder exists."

I have already tried the following solutions. Things I have tried to resolve the issue so far, but have failed:

I also posted on the Microsoft Community support forum here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-winapps/windows-7-task-scheduler-wont-let-me-modifycreate/03034fae-462e-4dfa-bd7a-e328079e0f06?tm=1537553306933&auth=1.

EDIT

I was able to fix my Task Scheduler issues by changing my PC back to it's name before it started giving me issues. This makes me believe a path variable isn't being updated properly when changing my PC name, but I've already checked the registry and can't find any entries with my new or old PC name in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache.

I still need to change my PC name and be able to use Task Scheduler which I haven't found a solution to yet, so I haven't truly found a solution yet.

Alex F

Posted 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Reputation: 398

Consider following steps:

  1. Open the Services console (services.msc) and check if the Task Scheduler service is running and configured to start automatically; if the service is not running, run it manually and note any error messages.
  2. If the service fails, check Event Viewer console (eventvwr.msc) and look for errors from sources: TaskScheduler and Service Control Manager. Use Filter Current Log... option on right panel. Try to repeat running the service manually and then hit F5 in the Event Viewer console to check for most recent errors.
    3. < – Michał Sacharewicz – 2018-09-24T15:39:43.443

1Change another account to check again. Run command line "sfc /scannow" as administrator to make sure all system files is not corrrupted. Rry michal's measure, and if issue persists, try to use process monitor and reproduce the issue to check detail reason. – Joy – 2018-09-26T09:24:40.660

I ran the command "sfc /scannow" and it did find and repair corrupt files. However, after restarting my PC I am still getting the same errors as before. – Alex F – 2018-09-27T20:02:20.023

I also checked Event Viewer for TaskScheduler and Service Control Manager items and the only items that showed up were informational. No warning or error messages. – Alex F – 2018-09-27T20:08:21.620

Related: Bug: Changing computer name isn't reflected in existing Task Scheduler tasks -- apparently this has been reported as a bug but unfortunately the bug report link is dead now.

– jrh – 2019-06-26T13:45:14.467

Answers

14

The issue was after changing my PC name, tasks I had created in Task Manager still had the User in Security Options set to the old PC name. The way to fix this was for every task:

Task Manager > Right-click Task > Properties > Change User or Group... > Enter the object name to select.

For the box "Enter the object name to select" I had to type my account username, not my new PC name. For example, "Alex".

One final note, the "Author" section for the Task will still show the old PC name, but that caused no issues for me.

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Alex F

Posted 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Reputation: 398

This can take some time on multiple tasks having the old computername. Do you have a powershell script to do that ? – SebMa – 2019-01-30T13:35:10.690

Sorry @SebMa I don't. – Alex F – 2019-01-30T14:04:19.083

My computer name hadn't changed, but for some reason it has the user set to MyName instead of ComputerName\MyName every time I edit the task. All I had to do was click Change User or Group..., type my username into the box and click Check Names then OK, and after that I could save the task, input my password and everything worked. – Clonkex – 2019-09-25T23:41:48.117

1

I know this is old, but none of the solutions above worked for me. I ended up discovering that you have to enter the user name as ComputerName\Username in the text box (along with the password, of course) even if it is a local account. Once I did this, it worked perfectly.

enter image description here

ahelton

Posted 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Reputation: 35

0

I ran into the same problem on Windows 7 and here is how I solved it:

  1. Close Task Scheduler completely if it is open.

  2. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to this folder: C:\Windows\System32\Tasks
    Note: you need to be an Administrator to be able to open this folder

  3. Search in all files for your old Computer name
    Do a case insensitive search!
    Note: these are actually XML files without the .xml file extension

  4. Edit the files which have your old Computer name in them with a Text editor.
    Just change your old Computer name to the new Computer name in all files.
    Be careful not to change anything else in these files!

  5. Finally you must download and use this program to repair the tasks you have edited:
    https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Repair-CorruptedTampered-c8d2e975

After the above you should be good and should not receive that error message any longer when you open Task Scheduler.

Zoltan

Posted 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Reputation: 101

-3

One of the main reason behind the task Scheduler service is not available issue is a virus attack Make sure we run a full scan of the system to fix the issue.

Mohsin Boruah

Posted 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Reputation: 1

Asked: 2018-09-24T15:13:51.863

Viewed: 10 570 times

Active: 2019-10-01T17:10:36.343