Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is used to automate periodic tasks in WSL, avoiding repetitive manual maintenance. It provides a visual management interface, so you can create and manage scheduled tasks without memorizing complex command-line arguments.

Example use cases for this feature:

• Periodically back up distributions in WSL
• Run custom scripts or commands

All tasks are consolidated under the \WSLDashboard\UserTasks\ path of the Windows Task Scheduler for centralized viewing and management. You can see task status (Ready / Running / Disabled) in the interface in real time.

Community Script Repository

You can download example scripts (for backing up distributions) from the community repository below to get started quickly:

https://github.com/owu/wsl-community

This is a user-contributed code repository — you're welcome to submit Pull Requests to contribute scripts or share best practices.

Executing Commands

Command Configuration

Each scheduled task can be configured with a command to execute (a script or executable), supporting the following options:

Setting	Description
Command	The path of the script or executable to run; supports .bat, .ps1, .cmd, .exe, .py and more. You can pick a file with the "Browse" button.
Arguments	Extra arguments passed to the command; optional.
Administrator privileges	When checked, the task runs with the highest privileges, suitable for operations requiring UAC elevation.

Task Operations

After creating a task, you can perform the following operations:

Operation	Description
Run now	Force the task to run immediately, regardless of scheduling rules.
Enable/Disable	Pause or resume the task's automatic scheduling.
Delete	Remove the task from the Task Scheduler.

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Scheduling Rules

Cron Expressions

Tasks use the standard 5-field Cron expression to define execution rules, in the following format:

minute hour day month weekday

Field	Range	Description
minute	0 - 59	Which minute of every hour to run
hour	0 - 23	Which hour of every day to run
day	1 - 31	Which day of every month to run
month	1 - 12	Which month of every year to run
weekday	0 - 7	Both 0 and 7 mean Sunday

Each field supports the following syntax:

• * — matches all values (e.g. * * * * * means run every minute)
• */N — run every N units (e.g. */5 * * * * means run every 5 minutes)
• A single number — matches a specific value (e.g. 0 9 * * 1 means run at 9:00 AM every Monday)

Note: Comma-separated lists (such as 1,15) and range expressions (such as 1-5) are not supported; see Notes below for more limitations.

Supported Combination Patterns

This software does not run a native cron daemon; instead, it translates Cron expressions into Windows Scheduled Task (schtasks.exe) trigger parameters. For accurate mapping, the parser hardcodes support for the following 7 combination patterns, covering most scheduled-task scenarios:

#	Pattern	Description	Use case
1	* * * * *	Run every minute	Monitoring, real-time detection tasks
2	*/N * * * *	Run every N minutes	Periodic check tasks
3	M * * * *	Run at minute M of every hour (e.g. 3 * * * *)	On-the-hour tasks
4	M H * * *	Run at H:M every day (e.g. 0 3 * * *)	Daily maintenance, e.g. cleaning up logs in the early morning
5	M H * * DOW	Run at H:M on a specific weekday (e.g. 0 12 * * 1)	Weekly routine tasks, e.g. backing up data every Monday
6	M H D * *	Run at H:M on a specific day of the month	Monthly tasks, e.g. generating a report on the 1st of every month
7	M H D MON *	Run at H:M on a specific month and day of the year	Yearly tasks, e.g. running in a specified month

If an expression doesn't match any of the 7 patterns above, the system treats it as an Unsupported cron pattern and refuses to create the task.

Notes

Because it is implemented on top of Windows Scheduled Tasks, this software's Cron parser differs from standard Linux Cron in the following ways:

1. Lists (,) and ranges (-) are not supported

Standard Cron allows defining multiple discrete time points with commas (such as 1,15,30 * * * * for minutes 1, 15, and 30), or ranges with a hyphen (such as 1-5 * * * * for minutes 1 through 5).

Limitation of this software: each field can only contain a single number, an asterisk (*), or a step (*/N); commas and hyphens are not supported.

2. Free-form combinations are not supported

Standard Cron allows arbitrary combinations of fields (such as * 3 * * * meaning every minute of the 3 AM hour), but this software only supports the 7 fixed patterns listed above; expressions outside this set are rejected.

3. Time alignment differences for step patterns

In standard Cron, */5 * * * * aligns strictly to clock minutes 0, 5, 10, 15.... This software translates it to Windows' /SC MINUTE /MO 5 argument, and Windows calculates the interval from the moment the task is created or enabled.

For example, if you save and enable a task that runs every 5 minutes at 10:02, it will first run at 10:07, then 10:12, rather than aligning to 10:05 on the standard clock.