Problem Using Task Scheduler in Windows 7

[L95AskWoody Plus]

I have Windows 7 and I’m in Group B and I’d  like to be able to use Task Scheduler because I think it’s needed in order to accomplish what has been  recommended by Woody in his ComputerWorld DEFCON-4 posting of August 2, 2019.  But I’m not sure my Task Scheduler is working properly,  but I don’t know for sure because I’ve never used Task Scheduler before.    Here are some questions I have:

1.  When I opened up Task Scheduler for the first time (and all subsequent times), it says “The selected task “0” no longer exists.  To see the current tasks, click refresh”.  But when I click “refresh”,  I get that same message all over again.   Does this mean there is something wrong with my Task Scheduler?  If so,  how do I fix it?

2.  Also, the only thing I see  in the white rectangular box on the left is the Task Scheduler Library. When I expand the Library, it contains four scheduled tasks, all of which appear to be associated with updating my antivirus program, Adobe Reader, and Google Chrome browser.   Am I supposed to see anything else in that white rectangular box,  other than the “Task Scheduler Library”?

3.  Woody said in his article that after the July Patch is installed,  that we should “disable the new scheduled tasks.”   Would it be better to delete the new scheduled tasks rather than disable them?   The reason I ask this is that I think deleting them may get rid of them permanently,  whereas disabling them may only get rid of them temporarily.

I will appreciate a response,  especially from PKCano,  who is the one who suggested that I post this in the Windows 7 Questions Forum.

[PKCanoDa Boss]

The first thing you need to do is turn off CEIP.

Task Scheduler is accessed Control PanelAdministrative Tools:

It has a treed format like File Explorer. You can click on each level to expand it. The tasks are in several locations “Application Experience,” “Autochk” and “Customer Experience Improvement Program.”

You can highlight each of the three locations in Task Schedular and manually disable each of the tasks by right-clicking on them and choosing “Disable.” But if you are patching Group A, they will just get turned back on after updates because the functionality is in every Rollup. (We still don’t know whether Group B Security-only patches will carry the functionality forward)

So the best way to handle the telemetry tasks is given in AKB2000012. You can run it manually, but again you will have to remember to do that.
If you download a copy of @abbodi86 ‘s script  from pastebin (see link) and copy it to C:\Windows with the file name Win10Tel.cmd  you can set up a Scheduled task to run with every system startup and clean thing up automatically.

To set up that task to run automatically, follow the instructions under “1.) Win10Tel.cmd” last paragraph.
If you have more questions, come back and ask.

 

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2 users thanked author for this post.

L95, Lars220

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:  Thanks for your response.   I had already turned off CEIP  before I wrote this post on August 5th.  That was the first thing that Woody said to do in his instructions of August 2nd,  and so I had already done that before I wrote my posting.  In fact I didn’t need to turn it off,  because it already was off anyway.   But my posting pertained the the second part of Woody’s instructions,  which said  we should “disable the new scheduled tasks.”    And that’s where I encountered the problems with Task Scheduler that I wrote about above.  Your response helped me with my Question #2 that I posted,  because I didn’t realize that I could expand the Task Scheduler Library by clicking on the arrow to the left of it,  in view of the fact that the arrow for expanding it is almost invisible on my computer.  But once I clicked on the arrow,  I see that it does expand into a treed format as you show in the picture.   However,  I don’t see an answer to my Question Nos. 1 and 3 in your response.   Do you have a response to my Question Nos. 1 and 3?    I will appreciate your response.

 

[PKCanoDa Boss]

Make two screenshots of your Task Scheduler expanded, similar to my third one above. In the first, the “Task Scheduler Library” should be highlighted. In the other, “Windows” should be highlighted.  Is this screenshot where you get the message that selected task 0 no longer exists?

3. Woody said in his article that after the July Patch is installed, that we should “disable the new scheduled tasks.” Would it be better to delete the new scheduled tasks rather than disable them? The reason I ask this is that I think deleting them may get rid of them permanently, whereas disabling them may only get rid of them temporarily.

The answer to this is under the third screenshot above. If you are patching Group A, the Rollups are cumulative. So whatever was in the previous month will recur in every following month, and you will have to keep wrestling with it manually. Making the script a Scheduled Task will make removal automatic. Otherwise you will have to keep doing it manually.

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[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:  I have attached the two screenshots you requested.   In answer to your question,  the answer is “No” this is not where I get the message.  The place where I get the message is when  “Task Scheduler(Local)”  is highlighted.    Also,  I’m having trouble understanding the latter part of your response.  I’m in Group B  (not Group A).  For people who are in Group B,  could you please clarify whether deleting would be better,  worse,  or the same thing as disabling the new scheduled tasks,  and how often should we do it?

I will appreciate your response.

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[PKCanoDa Boss]

So this is where you are getting the message? Does your screen look like this or is it blank?

L95 wrote:

For people who are in Group B, could you please clarify whether deleting would be better, worse, or the same thing as disabling the new scheduled tasks, and how often should we do it?

If the Compatibility Appraiser is only included in the July SO as a one-time thing, then disabling or deleting the tasks should suffice. But if the functionality is carried forward into the August (and later) SO, then you will have to deal with it on a monthly basis going forward. We do not have that answer yet, and won’t have until we see at least the August patches.

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[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:   In answer to your question,  it kind of looks like that except it looks different from yours.  I have attached a screenshot to show you.  Do you see where it says “Reading data, please wait” to the left of the error message?   Once I click out of the error message,  it then says “Reading Data Failed”.   And this happens even when I do the “refresh”.   I will appreciate your further advice on what to do next.

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[PKCanoDa Boss]

I suggest the next step might t be to repair the Task scheduler.  See @netdef ‘s instructions here.

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:   Thanks,  but I’m a little confused by your response,  because NetDef’s instructions appear to apply to a different problem (they apply to “Fix the Task Image is Corrupt…” problem).  How would this help with the particular error message that I have experienced?  In any event,  it may be a moot point now,  because the solution posted by RDRguy on August 14th has worked for me,  and the Task Scheduler appears to be working OK now that I’ve implemented his suggestion.  Thanks again for all your help,  and I will appreciate any response you may have.

[PKCanoDa Boss]

Saw RDGuy’s response. Glad you got it fixed.

[Alex5723AskWoody Plus]

PKCano wrote:

The first thing you need to do is turn off CEIP

Isn’t disabling CEIP, which is disabled by default in Win7, enough to block sending telemetry data to Microsoft (let the data be gathered but not sent) ?

[PKCanoDa Boss]

Because it may have been off by default at first install, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s still off.
At one point I remember there being a popup with something like “don’t you want to help MS make Windows better” and some people agreeing. So it never hurts to verify.

And as for the data being gathered, who wants to give up the computer’s resources even if it’s not sent?

3 users thanked author for this post.

Rick Corbett, satrow, Alex5723

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:  I’m a little confused by your response to Alex5723.  Can we avoid doing the tasks given in AKB2000012 if we check periodically to make sure CEIP  is turned off?

[PKCanoDa Boss]

I CEIP is turned off, the data won’t get sent to MS.
BUT, if you patch Group A, the tasks keep getting put back with each Rollup, and they run if you don’t remember to turn them off each time, and they collect the data, and that uses the resources of your computer even if the data they collect is not sent.
If that doesn’t bother you, you don’t have to follow AKB2000012.

2 users thanked author for this post.

L95, Bill C.

[Bill C.AskWoody Plus]

I am Group B and found that even with CEIP disabled, the task trigger would still execute and do the scan, but NOT send the data. To turn off the scan, I disabled off the trigger(s).

The July Group B SO turned 2 of the CEIP tasks back on and enabled the triggers, but I just disabled them again before it had a chance to scan.

My post-patching routine is always to check the task status and check WU settings, so whereas before they remained the same, now I will have to re-disable the CEIP ones.

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:   I have always had CEIP turned off.  But now that I have my Task Scheduler working,  when I look in there,  I see that it has been sending data to Microsoft at scheduled times,  even though the description says it will  “aggregate and upload Application Telemetry information if opted-in to the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program.”  So why has my computer been sending data to Microsoft even though I have CEIP turned off?   I will appreciate your response.

[PKCanoDa Boss]

Check here:
Control Panel\Action Center
Upper left “Change Action Center settings”
At the bottom “CEIP”
Be sure it’s set to “NO”

If it is grayed out, see AKB2000012 on how to neutralize telemetry.

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello PKCano:     Thanks,  but I had already done what you suggested before writing my posting of Aug. 17, 2019,  namely my CEIP is set to “NO”.   That’s what I meant when I said “I have always had CEIP turned off.”   And it is not greyed out.   But my question that I posted on August 17th was why does my Task Scheduler show that my computer has been sending data to Microsoft even though my CEIP is turned off  (i.e., set to “NO”)?   If you could answer that question for me,  I would appreciate it.

[NetDefAskWoody_MVP]

Aside from the goal, before you can do much you need to repair your Task Scheduler.

One (or more) tasks have become corrupt.

Step by step manual corrective steps posted at https://www.ghacks.net/2011/07/28/fix-the-task-image-is-corrupt-or-has-been-tampered-with-errors/

Alternately, if you want to trust a third party tool, there is an automated repair utility at https://github.com/Dijji/RepairTasks/releases that scans, finds problems with corrupt tasks, and offers to remove or repair them.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

3 users thanked author for this post.

Lars220, satrow, PKCano

[PaulKAskWoody Lounger]

This is an attempt to clarify the concept, and to answer Question 1.
What is the Task Scheduler? This is a fundamental part of Windows.
Think of it this way – an analogy:
Windows = a manufacturing plant.
Task Scheduler = the manager who regulates the flow of work.
Task = a production line.
T. S. Library = a list of the routine maintenance lines that keep the plant in good repair.

There are several records that must be in sync to have a line working. If they do not all have the same, or correlating, data, the line is down. Perhaps a maintenance function is no longer needed and the task has been removed, but not all ‘pointer’ records have been cleared. The manager is going on one index record, but the ‘pointed to’ task doesn’t exist.

Do a Search for [ selected task 0 no longer exists ], to see details, and for hits on how to clear any formerly-associated records. (If the task (program) isn’t there – in the Library – there is no reason for the Scheduler erroneously to try to invoke it.) Note that the Registry is involved, so follow directions meticulously.

[RDRguyAskWoody Lounger]

@L95 …

Though I’m coming a bit late to the party, just today I discovered that I also had the very same “The selected task “0” no longer exists” issue after reading this post and checking one of my Windows 7 systems.

In my case it was a relatively easy find and fix.

When I first opened Task Scheduler and got the same task error indication, I stepped down the Task Scheduler Tree using the keyboard {↓} arrow key, I noticed that when I got to the folder “Task Scheduler Library/Microsoft/Windows/Defrag”, the Defrag folder was blank (e.g. no tasks were contained within the Defrag folder). In addition, all folders below the Defrag folder were also blank.

Upon discovering this, I closed Task Scheduler then opened disk properties on one of my hard disk partitions & navigated to the tools tab & selected “Defragment now …”, then I turned OFF “Scheduled defragmentation” then turned it back ON.

When I opened Task Scheduler again, the corruption problem was fixed and all is now working normally.

What initially caused my corruption is unknown and chances are that yours may not be the same but stepping down the Task Scheduler Tree looking for an empty folder may provide you with additional useful information into what task is missing/corrupted and thereby point you towards the appropriate remedy to fix the problem.

Hopefully this helps.

Win8.1 Group B (Pro) [x64]
Win7 Group B (Ultimate & Pro) [x64 & x86]
MSOffice Pro Plus 2010 SP2 (x86 Perpetual)
MSOffice Pro Plus 2013 SP1 (x64 Perpetual)
RDRguy

2 users thanked author for this post.

L95, PKCano

[L95AskWoody Plus]

Hello RDRguy:    Thanks very much for your response.  Your solution worked for me.   And it also works if I leave the scheduled defrag turned off (rather than turning it back on,  as you did).    Sorry you were late to the game.  If I had known this sooner, it would have saved me a lot of work.  But in any event,  the problem appears to be fixed now.  Thanks again.

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