Bat file doesn't work with Task Scheduler

Question

I have a bat file that copies 3 txt files to an ftp directory, Task Scheduler launches it daily. The Task Scheduler history says "Task Scheduler successfully finished" and I get no errors. When I look in the ftp directory my files are not there.

But, when I launch the bat file from CMD it works.

Answer 1

You need to capture stdout and stderr to see what output the bat file produces.

See my answer to this question as to how to configure the task actions to do that.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2141466/how-to-run-a-task-with-task-scheduler

Answer 2

I have the output of the bat file going to a log, here is the output:

C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data>"C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data\Batch FTP File Upload.bat"1>"C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data\LogFile.txt" 2>&1

C:\Windows\System32>set FTP_SERVER=relianceftp.copeland.com

C:\Windows\System32>set FTP_USER=reliance

C:\Windows\System32>set FTP_PASS=ftp4reliance

C:\Windows\System32>set LOCAL_FILE1="C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Suppliers.txt"

C:\Windows\System32>set LOCAL_FILE2="C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_SuppliersParts.txt"

C:\Windows\System32>set LOCAL_FILE3="C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Parts.txt"

C:\Windows\System32>set REMOTE_DIR=CLD

C:\Windows\System32>echo open relianceftp.copeland.com 1>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo reliance 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo ftp4reliance 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo cd CLD 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo binary 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Suppliers.txt" 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_SuppliersParts.txt" 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Parts.txt" 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo bye 1>>ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>ftp -s:ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>del ftpcmd.txt

C:\Windows\System32>echo FTP Upload Complete

FTP Upload Complete

Again the bat file "works" if it is not run in Task Scheduler

Answer 3

Your script is using what I assume is your local account path. Did you configure your scheduled task to run under your local account? If not then it won't have access to the files under your Users directory.

Answer 4

C:\Windows\System32>echo reliance 1>>ftpcmd.txt C:\Windows\System32>echo ftp4reliance 1>>ftpcmd.txt C:\Windows\System32>echo cd CLD 1>>ftpcmd.txt C:\Windows\System32>echo binary 1>>ftpcmd.txt

If your current working directory is C:\Windows\System32 then an access denied error somewhere in your log would not be unexpected.

Add a "cd C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify" to the script, or fully qualify all references to ftpcmd.txt.

echo reliance 1>> "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\ftpcmd.txt"

Add a type command into the script and verify that the contents of the ftpcmd.txt file is getting set correctly.

type "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\ftpcmd.txt"
type ftpcmd.txt

I would also expect to see the output from ftp.exe in your log. Something isn't right there.

Answer 5

here is what the log file looks like when it works:

C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data>"C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data\Batch FTP File Upload.bat"1>"C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\EtQ Data\LogFile.txt" 2>&1

ftp> open relianceftp.copeland.com

Connected to P01GDCFTP.copeland.org.

220 usstlcspzzzap86.emrsn.org X2 WS_FTP Server 9.0.1(35593723)

200 Command OPTS succeed

User (P01GDCFTP.copeland.org:(none)):

331 Enter password

230 User logged in

ftp> cd CLD

250 Command CWD succeed

ftp> binary

200 Transfer mode set to BINARY

ftp> put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Suppliers.txt"

200 Command PORT succeed

150 Uploading in BINARY file CLD_Cargo_Suppliers.txt

226 Transfer completed

ftp: 3625 bytes sent in 0.06Seconds 62.50Kbytes/sec.

ftp> put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_SuppliersParts.txt"

200 Command PORT succeed

150 Uploading in BINARY file CLD_Cargo_SuppliersParts.txt

226 Transfer completed

ftp: 7632 bytes sent in 0.06Seconds 131.59Kbytes/sec.

ftp> put "C:\Users\Stephen.Neff\ZZZ Omnify\CLD_Cargo_Parts.txt"

200 Command PORT succeed

150 Uploading in BINARY file CLD_Cargo_Parts.txt

226 Transfer completed

ftp: 18049 bytes sent in 0.13Seconds 134.69Kbytes/sec.

ftp> bye

221 bye

And I added the 2 lines with TYPE in them and nothing