How to enable or disable Scheduled Task in Windows 11/10

Task Scheduler is a built-in component in Windows OS that lets the user schedule tasks (like Scheduling a Shutdown or Restart) for a particular date and time. On its interface, you can see the status of every scheduled task.

If you see the status as Ready, it means that the particular task is enabled. On the other hand, if it shows the status as Disabled, that means the particular task has been disabled. Users can also change the status of the scheduled tasks manually.

If there are some unnecessary tasks scheduled and you want to disable such scheduled tasks in Windows 11/10, then this post can help you with some built-in options. You can also re-enable a scheduled task anytime you want.

Enable or disable scheduled tasks in Windows 11/10

You can enable or disable the scheduled tasks in three ways. These are:

1. Using Task Scheduler
2. Using Command Prompt
3. Using Windows PowerShell.

Let’s see how to do it.

1] Using Task Scheduler

The following steps will guide you on how to use Task Scheduler to enable or disable the scheduled tasks:

1. Click on the Windows Search box
2. Type task scheduler
3. Press the Enter key to open the Task Scheduler window
4. Expand the Task Scheduler Library folder available on the left panel
5. Select the folder under which you have scheduled tasks that you want to disable
6. Select a scheduled task
7. Right-click on the selected task
8. Click on the Disable option.

This will disable that task immediately. To enable a scheduled task, simply use the above steps, and use the Enable option in the last step.

2] Using Command Prompt

Here are the steps to enable or disable a scheduled task using Command Prompt:

1. Run Command Prompt as an administrator

2. To disable a scheduled task, type and execute the following command:

schtasks /Change /TN "\FolderName\TaskName" /Disable

3. To enable a scheduled task, execute the following command:

schtasks /Change /TN "\FolderName\TaskName" /Enable

Do note that in the above two commands, you have to replace the FolderName and TaskName with the actual folder name and task name that are available in the Task Scheduler.

Read: How to rename scheduled task in Windows Task Scheduler.

3] Using Windows PowerShell

The steps to enable or disable a scheduled task using Windows PowerShell are as follows:

1. Launch Windows PowerShell as administrator using the Search box or other ways

2. Run the following command to disable a scheduled task:

Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\FolderName\" -TaskName "Enter TaskName"

3. To enable a task, run the following command:

Enable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\FolderName\" -TaskName "Enter TaskName"

In the above two commands, you must enter the exact folder name and task name that are present in the Task Scheduler.

After executing the commands in Command Prompt or PowerShell, you can check the status of the task in the Task Scheduler window. If it does not display the updated status, right-click in the empty space in the middle pane of the Task Scheduler window, and select the Refresh option.

This post will show you how to delete Scheduled Tasks in Windows.

Is it okay to disable Task Scheduler?

No, it is not OK to disable the Task Scheduler Service. It is required by the Windows OS as it executes the user-defined tasks and also runs the system tasks. If you disable the Task Scheduler permanently or temporarily, it will stop several system tasks from executing. Due to this, you may encounter several serious errors or issues on your computer. Therefore, disabling the Task Scheduler is not recommended.

How do I enable Scheduled task history?

By default, the task history option is disabled in the Task Scheduler. If you want to enable it, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Open the Task Scheduler window
2. Click on Task Scheduler (Local) available on the left panel
3. Click on the Action menu
4. Select Enable All Tasks History option.

To view the task history for a particular task, right-click on that task and then click Properties. After that, click on the History tab. Or else, you can also select a task, and then click on the History tab available in the middle pane of Task Scheduler. It will show the entire history related to that particular task.

That’s it.

Read next: System Scheduler: Task Scheduler alternative for Windows.