Crontab in windows

[Henry Chua]

Hi All,

Is there an application I can use to help me do schedule a job in windows? - sort of like the crontab in unix.

Best regards
Henry Chua

[Igor Karasik]

You can use AT windows command
http://tinyurl.com/dol4a
or Schtasks (XP only) command
http://tinyurl.com/2l38n
or use Windows Services for UNIX (emulation of UNIX based environments)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/interopmigration/unix/sfu/default.mspx

http://www.softpanorama.org/Unixification/SFU/index.shtml
"Cron is working under SFU and can run scheduled applications and scripts just like in Unix. The #! notation in Interix allows the script to name its own interpreter, and typically scripts does NOT require any modification"

[Steven Clementi · Accepted solution]

Henry:

Windows has a built in Task Scheduler which might work for you. Usually under Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools in "Scheduled Tasks".


Steven

[Gary Cooper_1]

I find it easier to get to Scheduled Tasks via Control Panel. It's wizard-based and very easy to use.

Regards,

Gary

[Harrison P Barrows Jr]

I have found that a program called cygwin works great. It is free from www.cygwin.com you install it and it is a unix emulator from which you can run vi, cron jobs and such.

[Sheldon Smith]

As noted above, Windows has its built in Task Scheduler accessible from the Control Panel. For a long time now (since NT 3.5?) Windows has also provided a command line interface to the Task Scheduler called "at". You can use the "at /?" command in a command prompt window for quick information. There is documentation for "at" available at microsoft.com.
Note: Microsoft has deprecated the "at" command in favor of the new "schtasks" cli (again, "schtasks /?"). I believe it's only in XP and Win2003. Again, documentation at microsoft.com. Schtasks provides more access to the Task Scheduler functionality.
As far as I know, both "at" and "schtasks" are included with the standard Windows installation; you should definitely have "at".