How to Use Ansible in Windows: Windows Scheduled Tasks

In this post of the Ansible 4 Windows series, we will learn how to create, remove, disable, and restart scheduled tasks on Windows servers using Ansible.

If you’ve worked with Windows before, you already know how useful scheduled tasks can be, they allow you to automate actions such as running scripts, opening applications, or triggering maintenance jobs at specific times. Now, with Ansible, you can manage these tasks consistently across multiple servers, without having to log into each one manually.

By the end of this guide, you will know how to:

• Create a scheduled task

• Remove a scheduled task

• Disable a scheduled task (with PowerShell support)

• Restart a scheduled task (with PowerShell support)

Let’s walk through each of these step by step.

---

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

1. A working Ansible control node (Linux).

2. One or more Windows servers configured as managed hosts.

3. Ansible collections installed for Windows:

    ansible-galaxy collection install community.windows ansible.windows
   

4. Basic familiarity with running Ansible playbooks.

For disabling and restarting tasks, we will also need two small PowerShell scripts placed inside the Windows server. You can either:

• Manually copy them to the server (e.g., C:\Users\Ansible\Scripts\), or

• Use Ansible’s ansible.windows.win_copy module to copy them over from your control node.

We’ll cover the scripts later in this post.

---

1. Creating a Scheduled Task

Here’s a simple playbook that creates a scheduled task. This task will run two commands:

• Show the computer’s hostname

• Show the user running the task

---
- name: Create a scheduled task
  hosts: windows
  gather_facts: true
  tasks:
    - name: Create <YourTaskName> to run cmd commands
      community.windows.win_scheduled_task:
        name: <YourTaskName>
        description: open command prompt
        actions:
          - path: cmd.exe
            arguments: /c hostname
          - path: cmd.exe
            arguments: /c whoami
        triggers:
          - type: daily
            start_boundary: '2025-08-21T15:20:00'
        username: <YourAnsibleUser> # You can also use "SYSTEM" as username here.
        state: present
        enabled: true

What this does:

• Creates a task with the name <YourTaskName>

• Runs two commands (hostname and whoami) daily at 3:20 PM.

• Executes as the <YourAnsibleUser> OR SYSTEM user.

---

2. Removing a Scheduled Task

If you no longer need the task, you can remove it with the following playbook:

---
- name: Remove a scheduled task
  hosts: windows
  gather_facts: true
  tasks:
    - name: Remove <YourTaskNAme>
      community.windows.win_scheduled_task:
        name: <YourTaskNAme>
        state: absent

This deletes the scheduled task called <YourTaskNAme> from the Windows server.

---

3. Disabling a Scheduled Task (PowerShell)

Sometimes you don’t want to delete a task but simply disable it. Ansible doesn’t directly provide a disable option, so we will use a PowerShell script to handle this.

First, create a script called Disable-Task.ps1 with the following content:

Param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string]$TaskName
)

try {
    $task = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName $TaskName -ErrorAction Stop
    Disable-ScheduledTask -InputObject $task
    Write-Host "Task '$TaskName' has been disabled successfully."
} 
catch {
    Write-Error "Failed to disable task '$TaskName'. Error: $_"
}

Save this file under:
C:\Users\Ansible\Scripts\Disable-Task.ps1

Now, use the playbook below to run the script from Ansible:

---
- name: Disable Windows Scheduled Task
  hosts: windows
  gather_facts: true
  vars:
    task_name: "<YourTaskName>"
    script_path: "C:\\Users\\<YourAnsibleUser>\\Scripts\\Disable-Task.ps1"

  tasks:
    - name: Disable the scheduled task
      ansible.windows.win_shell: |
        powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "{{ script_path }}" -TaskName "{{ task_name }}"

This will disable the task named <YourTaskNAme>.

---

4. Restarting a Scheduled Task (PowerShell)

To restart a scheduled task, we will use another PowerShell script:

Param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string]$TaskName
)

try {
    $task = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName $TaskName -ErrorAction Stop

    if ($task.State -eq 'Disabled') {
        Enable-ScheduledTask -InputObject $task
        Write-Host "Task '$TaskName' was disabled and has been enabled."
    }

    $taskState = (Get-ScheduledTaskInfo -TaskName $TaskName).State
    if ($taskState -eq 'Running') {
        Stop-ScheduledTask -InputObject $task
        Write-Host "Task '$TaskName' was running and has been stopped."
    }

    Start-ScheduledTask -InputObject $task
    Write-Host "Task '$TaskName' has been started successfully."
}
catch {
    Write-Error "Failed to restart task '$TaskName'. Error: $_"
}

Save it as:
C:\Users\Ansible\Scripts\Restart-Task.ps1

Here’s the Ansible playbook to call this script:

---
- name: Restart Windows Scheduled Task
  hosts: windows
  gather_facts: true
  vars:
    task_name: "<YourTaskName>"
    script_path: "C:\\Users\\<YourAnsibleUser>\\Scripts\\Restart-Task.ps1"

  tasks:
    - name: Restart the scheduled task
      ansible.windows.win_shell: |
        powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "{{ script_path }}" -TaskName "{{ task_name }}"

---

Wrapping Up

We have now covered how to:

• Create a scheduled task using Ansible modules.

• Remove a scheduled task when no longer needed.

• Disable a task temporarily using PowerShell scripts.

• Restart a scheduled task and bring it back into action.

Scheduled tasks are powerful for automating routine jobs on Windows servers. By combining them with Ansible, you gain the ability to manage these tasks consistently across multiple machines, saving time and reducing manual effort.