[windows] How to find the location of the Scheduled Tasks folder

I have seen references online that state that 'Scheduled Tasks' in Windows are stored in %SystemRoot%\Tasks, which I think usually equates to C:\Windows\Tasks.

However, I observe that while that folder exists on my Windows 7 system, Scheduled tasks doesn't use it.

My system appears to use, C:\Windows\System32\Tasks.

I have studied the Environment variables and there doesn't seem to be anything related to Scheduled Tasks there.

How do I discover which folder is used for Scheduled tasks?

There are multiple issues with the MMC however as on almost every PC in my business the ask scheduler API will not open and has somehow been corrupted. So you cannot edit, delete or otherwise modify tasks that were developed before the API decided not to run anymore. The only way we have found to fix that issue is to totally wipe away a persons profile under the C:\Users\ area and force the system to recreate the log in once the person logs back in. This seems to fix the API issue and it works again, however the tasks are often not visible anymore to that user since the tasks developed are specific to the user and not the machine in Windows 7. The other odd thing is that sometimes, although not with any frequency that can be analyzed, the tasks still run even though the API is corrupted and will not open. The cause of this issue is apparently not known but there are many "fixes" described on various websites, but the user profile deletion and adding anew seems to work every time for at least a little while. The tasks are saved as XML now in WIN 7, so if you do find them in the system32/tasks folder you can delete them, or copy them to a new drive and then import them back into task scheduler. We went with the system scheduler software from Splinterware though since we had the same corruption issue multiple times even with the fix that does not seem to be permanent.

Looks like TaskCache registry data is in ...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache

... on my Windows 10 PC (i.e. add Schedule before TaskCache and TaskCache has an upper case C).

On newer versions of Windows (Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016) the tasks you create are located in C:\Windows\Tasks. They will have the extension .job

For example if you create the task "DoWork" it will create the task in

C:\Windows\Tasks\DoWork.job

Tasks are saved in filesystem AND registry

Tasks are stored in 3 locations: 1 file system location and 2 registry locations.

File system:

C:\Windows\System32\Tasks

Registry:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tasks
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tree

So, you need to delete a corrupted task in these 3 locations.

For Windows 7 and up, scheduled tasks are not run by cmd.exe, but rather by MMC (Microsoft Management Console). %SystemRoot%\Tasks should work on any other Windows version though.

I want to extend @Jan answer:

It's seems, that Task Scheduler 1.0 API uses C:\Windows\Tasks folder for create and enumerate tasks (this example), while Task Scheduler 2.0 API uses C:\Windows\System32\Tasks to create and enumerate tasks (this example).

It's also seems, that windows console utility schtasks and GUI utility taskschd.msc uses Task Scheduler 2.0 API.

P.S. I found, that if task placed in C:\Windows\Tasks and have not set AccountInformation, then task won't be displayed in windows console and GUI schedulers. If you set AccountInformation (even "" for SYSTEM account) and set flag TASK_FLAG_RUN_ONLY_IF_LOGGED_ON - task will be displayed in all standard applications.

Solution found here