View All Running Tasks with Windows Server 2008's Task Scheduler

The Windows Server 2008 Task Scheduler has many default tasks that you may or may not wish to run in your environment. Learn about a new feature that can help you determine if a process is not ending as planned.

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One new feature of Windows Server 2008’s Task Scheduler is an option to view All Running Tasks. This can be particularly helpful if you’re trying to determine if a process is not ending as planned.

To use Task Scheduler to view the inventory of tasks that are actively running on the local system, right-click the Task Scheduler Library folder and select Display All Running Tasks, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

For a test system that is a domain controller, the running task inventory had three scheduled tasks that are apparently not completing and were all started at boot time. Figure B shows All Running Tasks for this domain controller.

Figure B

Within this list, the SystemSoundsService scheduled task is in the Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Multimedia folder. This task will not operate correctly because this server does not have audio hardware available for use. For this scenario, you would disable this task, and the computer’s beep function would remain with this service disabled.

For all Windows Server 2008 installations, you should perform a thorough check of the default scheduled tasks. Microsoft provides a breakdown of the default scheduled tasks for Windows Vista, which are very similar between the two products.

For more about Task Scheduler, read my post: Explore new task scheduler triggers in Windows Server 2008.

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