Windows Task Scheduler not returning $LASTEXITCODE from a Powershell script

Question

I have a script that just calls Exit 1. But, when this script is run via Windows Task Scheduler, I get either a return code of 0, or 2147942401, but I never get the expected 1. Details below.

Script Content

Exit 1

Windows Task Definition:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -Command '. C:\myscript.ps1; exit $LastExitCode'

Run Result

When I run this task, the task history shows, Task Scheduler successfully completed task "\My task" , instance "{3f344413-46c2-4419-b46b-85896f241d60}" , action "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe" with return code 0.

If I alter the Windows Task definition to use double quotes instead of single quotes, I get a different result.

Edited Windows Task Definition

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -Command ". C:\myscript.ps1; exit $LastExitCode"

New Result

Task Scheduler successfully completed task "\My task" , instance "{c44082a8-56fe-4615-aad0-70dca8b71881}" , action "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe" with return code 2147942401.

How can I get 1 for my task's return code? Do I need to run 2147942401 through some kind of convertor to get 1? Or is there something else at work here?

Thanks.

@js2010 Nope: the command switch is there for good reason. stackoverflow.com/a/53888424/2839874 — stackleit
– stackleit, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 18:23
How are you running the scheduled task and how are you trying to collect the exit code? From what it sounds like, you’re trying to get the result from the scheduled task which will return the task scheduler exit code and not your scripts — Fitzgery
– Fitzgery, Commented Oct 21, 2022 at 1:03

js2010 · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-15 14:15:56Z

1

get-scheduledtaskinfo worked for me with powershell c:\script.ps1 (-command is the default):

set-content c:\script.ps1 'exit 1' # or 'exit $error.count'
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction powershell c:\script.ps1
Register-ScheduledTask script.ps1 \ $action -force # overwrite
start-scheduledtask script.ps1
while ((Get-ScheduledTask script.ps1).State -ne 'Ready') {
  Write-Verbose -Message 'Waiting on scheduled task...'; sleep 1 }

get-scheduledtaskinfo script.ps1

LastRunTime        : 10/23/2022 10:29:29 AM
LastTaskResult     : 1
NextRunTime        :
NumberOfMissedRuns : 0
TaskName           : script.ps1
TaskPath           :
PSComputerName     :

Some crazy bit math to get the exit code from task scheduler from @mklement0's comments under here: How get task scheduler to detect failed error code from powershell script:

function get-taskschedexitcode ($tasknum) {$tasknum -band -bnot 0x80070000}
get-taskschedexitcode 2147942401

1


1 -bor 0x80070000L

2147942401

Or

2147942401 | % tostring x  # convert to hex

80070001


0x80070001 - 0x80070000  # get exit code

1


2147942401 - 2147942400

1


-join '2147942401'[-2..-1]

01

edited Dec 15, 2022 at 14:15

answered Oct 23, 2022 at 14:31

js2010

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2 Comments

stackleit Over a year ago

So, I guess the takeaway is that if you are running a PS script as a scheduled task and you are doing error handling in your script (with exit codes that have meaning to your organization), you are better off accessing the LastTaskResult property of the object returned by Get-ScheduledTaskInfo, rather than using the Task Scheduler app. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why it is useful for the Task Scheduler UI to convert a result code to hexadecimal, in order to display that instead of the value that was actually returned.

js2010 Over a year ago

@stackleit get-scheduledtaskinfo should work with any scheduled task. Yeah the hex number is weird.

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