How to Distribute Task Scheduler Tasks to Multiple Users

ID: Q217006

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows 95
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows 98
Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.01 Service Pack 1, 4.01 Service Pack 2, 5 for Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Windows 98

SUMMARY

This article describes how to distribute a Microsoft Task Scheduler task to multiple users participating on a network.

MORE INFORMATION

To distribute a Task Scheduler task to multiple users, follow these steps:

Create a task in Task Scheduler. For information about how to do so, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q178706 How to Schedule a Program Using Task Scheduler

Create a new folder on a computer running Microsoft Windows NT Server or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, and give the appropriate users access to the folder.

Copy the task into the shared folder. The task is located in the Windows\Tasks folder with a .job extension, where Windows is the folder in which Windows is installed.

Create a batch file in the shared folder that copies the task from the shared folder to each client computer's Tasks folder. For example, the following batch file copies a Task Scheduler task to a client computer
net use drive: \\server\folder
copy drive:task.job %windir%\tasks
net use drive: /delete /yes
where drive is the drive letter you are mapping to the shared folder, server is the computer on which the shared folder is located, and folder is the shared folder name.

NOTE: Using the %windir% variable ensures that the task is copied to the Tasks folder on a Windows NT-based computer.

Create a shortcut to the batch file. Ensure that the shortcut's command line uses a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to the batch file. You can set any properties you want for the shortcut.

E-mail the shortcut to the users who should install it. When the shortcut is double-clicked, the batch file runs and the task is copied to the local computer's Tasks folder.

NOTE: You can also use this procedure to remove tasks from a user's computer. The program being run by the task must be located in the same place on each client computer. This article assumes this is the case.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kbenv kbnetwork kbtool msiew95 msient win98 msiew98 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,4.01,4.01 Service Pack 1,5
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 6, 1999