How to fix Task Scheduler "Remote Computer not found"

Question

How to fix Task Scheduler "Remote Computer not found"

Darty 20

I've had this issue for years where my Task Scheduler simply won't work, I've tried looking for any possible fix by browsing forums and following every instruction to attempt to fix it, everything but a clean boot because I want to avoid that at all costs.

When I try to run Task Scheduler from services, it won't run. It will simply give me a warning that it "started and then stopped".

When I try to open Task Scheduler it just tells me "Remote Computer not found"

I've tried adjusting the start values to 2 in the registry editor and then restarting my PC, and other recommended configurations but nothing seems to work.

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Answer 1

MotoX80 37,161

It will simply give me a warning that it "started and then stopped".

Open a command prompt with "run as administrator" and run this command.

sc qc Schedule

Verify that the output looks exactly like this.

C:\>sc qc Schedule
[SC] QueryServiceConfig SUCCESS
SERVICE_NAME: Schedule
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        START_TYPE         : 2   AUTO_START
        ERROR_CONTROL      : 1   NORMAL
        BINARY_PATH_NAME   : C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs -p
        LOAD_ORDER_GROUP   : SchedulerGroup
        TAG                : 0
        DISPLAY_NAME       : Task Scheduler
        DEPENDENCIES       : RPCSS
                           : SystemEventsBroker
        SERVICE_START_NAME : LocalSystem

Then paste in these commands. If your schedule service isn't running, then it should report STOPPED. But verify that all of the other services report RUNNING.

sc query  schedule  | findstr -i state 
sc query  DcomLaunch | findstr -i state 
sc query  RpcEptMapper  | findstr -i state 
sc query  RPCSS  | findstr -i state 
sc query  SystemEventsBroker  | findstr -i state

If any of those other services are not running then you will need to figure out what error they are getting. Check the System event log and look for service failures events.

When I try to open Task Scheduler it just tells me "Remote Computer not found"

That's probably because your service is not running.

Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-17T23:04:10.3366667+00:00

When I put in all those commands, all of them were running

EXCEPT FOR:

sc query schedule | findstr -i state

this is the only one that was not running, nor do I know how to troubleshoot to figure out why its not running nor how to run it
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-17T23:06:44.5666667+00:00

Also as for the output you wanted me to check, it is the EXACT same as the one you showed
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-17T23:07:21.1966667+00:00
MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-02-17T23:48:23.1633333+00:00

So let's see if we can find an error in one of the event logs. From that command prompt run "net start schedule". That will attempt a start which would be expected to fail, but the main reason to run that is to get the error event to be the most recent event in the logs.

Then check the Application and System event logs and look for something task scheduler related. Then scroll down and check the 2 logs under TaskScheduler.
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-18T00:25:25.22+00:00

this what I got from checking the logs
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-18T00:25:57.0033333+00:00

this is what I got from the logs
MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-02-18T02:25:30.29+00:00
I can't find any hits on the net for that error. From what I know, the task scheduler saves its data primarily in 2 spots. Open 2 command prompts with "run as administrator" and first check the file system. Run this.

dir c:\Windows\System32\Tasks

It should look like this.

Then look at the registry keys.

reg query "HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree

Do you see a lot of similar names? Do you see the names of any tasks that you created?

Do the permissions look like this?

icacls c:\Windows\System32\Tasks
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-18T12:06:51.92+00:00

this what I got

Answer 2

Darty 20

User's image

this what I got

MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-02-18T12:55:49.0066667+00:00
Well, if you managed to delete all files and folders in c:\windows\system32\tasks then I can understand why the Task Scheduler service won't work.

Is this PC Windows 10 or 11?

Check your recycle bin to if maybe those files are there.

Do you see anything in c:\windows\system32\Tasks_Migrated?

Run this and see if the files somehow got moved to another folder. See if you can find the Edge update tasks anywhere.

dir c:\microsoftedgeupdatetask* /s /a

On Win 11 I found this.

On Windows 10, I only found it in the tasks folder.
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-18T13:00:20.7033333+00:00

I'm on windows 10, and my recycling bin is empty.

I do remember checking the Tasks folder earlier when going over online solutions, but the folder was empty. I was recommended to rename the folder and restart my PC so the folder may get recreated, but nothing happened.
Darty 20 Reputation points

2025-02-18T13:05:13.86+00:00

oh wow I rechecked the folder, the Tasks folder was renamed to Tasks_old and actually had a lot of things in it. I renamed it to Tasks and removed the empty folder, and now it works!
MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-02-18T13:07:09.4166667+00:00

Search your C: drive for any files named microsoftedgeupdatetask.

If you have access to another Win10 pc, then you can try to copy their tasks folder to your pc. It won't match the registry values but it might be enough to get the service running.
MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-02-18T13:09:00.17+00:00

now it works!

Great.

Answer 3

I too have been struggling with this issue for probably a year or more. Basically since starting to build replacement 2022 servers for our infrastructure (replacing 2016 / 2019 machines).

I stumbled upon this thread, which did not solve my issue immediately, but did lead me down the right path.

I would absolutely perform the recommended steps from the original post mentioning verifying that services are running / started, the permissions, folder contents, etc.

What I found was that my Task Scheduler service was not running (as expected), and of course, if I opened the Task Scheduler I received "the remote computer could not be found".

Looking at the Windows event logs, I started searching one by one through the logs (starting with the Application log, and then the System log, etc.) I decided to filter by Event Sources and chose TaskScheduler. What I found very quickly was the following:

Maintenance Scheduler Group Policy Settings are not properly specified for "Automatic Maintenance Activation Boundary". Default settings are being used.

This being a domain joined machine, I thought to myself "let me check that policy". On the policy that was specifically applied to this machine, I found the following setting configured as such:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Maintenance Scheduler > Automatic Maintenance Activation Boundary was set to Enabled and a time was set as: 1:00

This did not appear to be an issue. Other computers in the same OU as this server did not seem to have Task Scheduler issues. However, the other computers in the same OU were Windows Server 2016 and not Windows Server 2022. So I decided to do a quick search online to see what could possibly be wrong with this setting in its current configuration. I found a chart that showed basically the intended time (in my example, 1:00 AM) and the correct corresponding setting for that time, which is not 1:00. Instead it should be represented in the following way:

2001-01-01T01:00:00

I made this change, performed a gpupdate / force and rebooted the problematic machine. After rebooting, I am happy to report that not only does the Task Scheduler service start properly (and I am able to access the Task Scheduler) but this also seemed to fix another issue I have been having with Windows Server 2022 machines, which is that the windows search functionality does not work (it does after applying this change).

Prior to this, I was wondering if there had been issues with the way I was deploying images (I use MDT / sysprep), so I tried building a Windows Server 2022 VM from the Windows ISO (this resulted in the same problem). I thought it might be group policy, but hesitated, since as I mentioned previously that other machines in the same OU (receiving the same policies) were not having this issue. I hope this helps someone!

Note: I did also test performing a gpupdate /force and reboot on a previously working Server 2016 server in the same OU to verify that this change did not unintentionally break the Server 2016 machines. I can confirm that things are still working properly.

Note: The chart I mentioned that maps the intended time to the correct configuration can be found at this link: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/125655-specify-automatic-maintenance-time-run-windows-10-a.html

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How to fix Task Scheduler "Remote Computer not found"

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