Error messege: the selected task "{0}" no longer exists. to see the current task, click refresh

Anonymous
2009-07-07T16:17:02+00:00

When I go to start the task scheduler, I get this messege "the selected task "{0}" no longer exists. to see the current task, click refresh" So I go ahead and click refresh, and get the same error messege. How can I resolve this issue? Any help and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2009-09-21T19:15:00+00:00

I spent a few minutes and tracked down the problem and a solution. The issue is a result of task files which exist in the Tasks folders which have no entry in (presumably) in the registry. Here's how I worked through the issue - will take some time, but it has cleared up the issue completely for me:

  1. Open Task Scheduler and click OK when prompted with the error. It may seem like you are receiving the same error over and over, but this is really due to the number of tasks which are broken. Make a note of the number of times you are prompted with the the selected task "{0}" error. This is the number of task files that are out of sync with the registry.
  2. Start with the first folder under Windows tasks (Task Scheduler(Local)\Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows) and select each folder in turn until you receive the the selected task "{0}" error. This folder contains files that are not in sync with the task scheduler.
  3. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the tasks file folder (%SystemFolder%\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows) and find the folder which corresponds to the folder in which you received the error.
  4. For some tasks you will be able to determine which files need to be deleted by comparing the list in the Task Scheduler with the list of files in Explorer. Some tasks will only have a single file in explorer, or, in one case I had 2 and the first was missing. Once Task Scheduler encounters this error it will no longer display tasks so it makes the job of getting the two in sync a little more difficult. Once you have determined which files exist in the File Folder but do not exist in the Task Scheduler folder, delete those files.
  5. IMPORTANT - Close and Re-open Task Scheduler. Once the error is encountered, Task Scheduler no longer displays the tasks so you need to close it and restart in order to continue your synchronization effort.
  6. Continue to select folders in Task Scheduler under Windows tasks until you encounter the error again and repeat the process of determining which file exists on the file system, but not in Task Scheduler.

I had 6 files that were out of sync with what was displayed in Task Scheduler. Once I deleted all of the offending files, Task Scheduler fired up without issue.

Good luck.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2009-08-28T12:19:13+00:00

Hi,

I had the same issue and here is what I did to solve my problem and hope it helps someone else in the future.  If you disabled the Disk Defrag Schedule, then go back and enable it.  It solved my problem and i've reported this bug to the Windows 7 team.

Was this answer helpful?

90+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

131 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.


    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  2. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.


    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-13T16:14:27+00:00

    Jay,

    There was no SystemFolder variable in Windows 7 either.

    As you have already discovered, the folder containing Tasks for Task scheduler is at C:\Windows\System32\Tasks [which can also be addressed as %SystemRoot%\System32\Tasks].

    I am not quite sure what stage of the procedure is stopping you:-

    1  Open Task scheduler, count the errors.  Then click on each task in the Task scheduler library until the number of errors is reached, noting the failures [including their location in the folder hierarchy] as you go.  Close Task scheduler when you have finished.

    2.1  I always switch to another [Admin] account for jobs such as this.  Whichever account I use for this fault investigation, I will have to give myself permission to access the necessary folders.  If I do so using my day-to-day user account then I am creating a security vulnerability because any malware that gets into my account can try to infect TS tasks - some of which have high levels of access permission and can therefore do enormous damage to my computer.  By using another [Admin] account that is not used for day-to-day work, I am avoiding opening up these parts of my computer to malware - malware that gets in while I am using my day-to-day account will only be able to infect those parts of the computer that my day-to-day account has access to.

    2.2  Open File explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32\Tasks.  Use the notes you have just made to get to the corresponding point in the folder hierarchy.  Delete the task [noting kirkaholic's advice about any folder containing multiple entries].

    2.3  Close File explorer then log out of the [Admin] account you have used to do the job. 

    3  Log back in to your day-to-day user account and check Task scheduler - there should not be any further error reports.

    4  Investigate the deleted Tasks.  They must have existed for some purpose and you might need to recreate them.  In the example I used in my diagrams, the Defrag task can be recreated by running Defragmenter [%windir%\system32\dfrgui.exe] then setting up scheduled defragmentation again.


    If you cannot complete this procedure then please

    • Tell me which TS Tasks are showing errors
    • Make Snipping tool diagrams to show their positions in the folder hierarchy within TS
    • Make Snipping tool diagrams to show those sections of the folder hierarchy within File explorer so that the absence of a corresponding folder can be seen [because that is what you are reporting, if you understand you correctly].

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments