[windows] Setting up a cron job in Windows

I have to download a file from an SFTP server everyday. I have the program which retrieves the file from the server but I was thinking of setting up a cron job (or anything similar) to automate that. We are a Windows shop and need to set up the cron job in Windows.

There's pycron which I really as a Cron implementation for windows, but there's also the built in scheduler which should work just fine for what you need (Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks -> Add Scheduled Task).

1. Make sure you logged on as an administrator or you have the same access as an administrator.
2. Start->Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Task Scheduler
3. Action->Create Basic Task->Type a name and Click Next
4. Follow through the wizard.

The windows equivalent to a cron job is a scheduled task.

A scheduled task can be created as described by Alex and Rudu, but it can also be done command line with schtasks (if you for instance need to script it or add it to version control).

An example:

schtasks /create /tn calculate /tr calc /sc weekly /d MON /st 06:05 /ru "System"

Creates the task calculate, which starts the calculator(calc) every monday at 6:05 (should you ever need that.)

All available commands can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772785%28WS.10%29.aspx

It works on windows server 2008 as well as windows server 2003.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/schedule-a-task

maybe that will help with windows scheduled tasks ...

If you don't want to use Scheduled Tasks you can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux which will allow you to use cron jobs like on Linux.

To make sure cron is actually running you can type service cron status from within the Linux terminal. If it isn't currently running then type service cron start and you should be good to go.