[WIN 10] Scheduled task to wake-from-sleep at a set time is not working? Help please!

Akagi · 5 Jun 2020 at 01:27

Hi guys,

So I have a backup set to run at 01:00 so I set up a scheduled task on the target machine to wake it up at 00:50, so that the target is available for the backup, because I don't want it needlessly running 24/7, and I don't want to have to turn it on and off manually every day. There is then another task which will run a batch file to put the machine back to sleep after a period of inactivity. (I might require assistance with that too if it doesn't work!)

Tonight was the first backup after I set this up, and the machine didn't wake up.

This is how I have set it up:

I have disallowed the ethernet controller from being able to wake the computer because it would wake whenever Dad started using his computer in his office.

Any ideas as to why this didn't work?

i5 3570K
GA Z77X-D3H
HyperX Gray
Intel SSD as boot drive
XFX 650W
GTX660 SLI

Akagi · 5 Jun 2020 at 08:02

HPET is enabled in the BIOS by the way.

Also it seems that there might be a Windows 10 bug going from various posts on the net, some people seem to have resolved it however.

If nobody on here has an idea I guess I could try a third party app!

Akagi · 5 Jun 2020 at 12:39

The third party app "WakeUpOnStandby" does not work either.
Nor does the third party app "KM Wakeup".

Akagi · 5 Jun 2020 at 13:11

I found the solution, in case anyone finds this thread in future via a search!

If you are putting your computer to sleep with the commonly used batch script command "Rundll32.exe Powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Sleep" (which I was) then the scheduled task will not be able to wake the computer from sleep, this is due to what appears to be a bug in Rundll32.exe.

Credit goes to Techie0007L on the Microsoft forums for discovering this.

Instead of calling Rundll32.exe in your batch script, download an alternative tool and call that instead.

Unfortunately, after all the features it has, the Microsoft shutdown command is missing the standby feature! So, it you want to put your computer to sleep via command line, you'll need to install a more capable tool before you can use the last command above...

Download this - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/pstools
The download should be a ZIP file. Open it and copy PsShutdown.exe to your desktop (or wherever)
Right click it > properties > Tick Unblock and click OK, then copy it again...
Paste it in C:\Windows\System32
To enter standby, you can now use this command in a batch file "psshutdown -d -t 0"