Powershell script does not get executed by Task Scheduler

Question

I have a simple Powershell script (ps1 file) that clears the contents of a existing file, and then appends date and status of a service to the file:

Clear-Content \\MyDomain\Homes\Usr\MyUser\"Mijn Documenten"\Desktop\ScriptOutput\test.txt
Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss" | Out-File -encoding ascii \\MyDomain\Homes\Usr\MyUser\"Mijn Documenten"\Desktop\ScriptOutput\test.txt -NoNewline 
" : " | Out-File -encoding ascii \\MyDomain\Homes\Usr\MyUser\"Mijn Documenten"\Desktop\ScriptOutput\test.txt -NoNewline -append 
(Get-Service MyService).status | Out-File -encoding ascii \\MyDomain\Homes\Usr\MyUser\"Mijn Documenten"\Desktop\ScriptOutput\test.txt -NoNewline -append

When executing this script (right click -> run with Powershell) the folder ScriptOutput on my desktop is populated with the file test.txt with the following contents:

2021-12-22 11:41:54 : Running

When I try to schedule this task for every 5 minutes using the Task Scheduler, I can see the Powershell window pop up every 5 minutes for a split second but the file (test.txt) is not populated with the most recent data. I am expecting a different timestamp for every time the script is executed.

Properties of the task are:

General

Trigger (daily) (every 5 minutes)

Actions

Where Program / scripts :

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

And Parameters :

-File C:\Scripts\FNMS Scripts\Beacon Server Service Logging Script\beaconscript_v1.0.ps1

Why wont the script execute and update test.txt with the most recent timestamp?

Answer 1

That is happening because of Window's Execution policy, Which does not allow an unsigned script to be run by default. You need to change this policy for your script to work.

1. Open an elevated Powershell prompt.
2. Type Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted to set the policy to Unrestricted.
3. Type Get-ExecutionPolicy to verify the current settings for the execution policy.

Please note that changing this setting is a security threat as malicious scripts can also be run by other programs. Instead you can try to write a Batch script spinoff of the same script, and then use that instead of this. Windows exeution policy don't block Batch script.