4 Best Ways to Disable Scheduled Tasks in Windows 10

With Windows 10’s Task Scheduler, users can automate routine tasks on a PC. The Task Scheduler works by monitoring the criteria or triggers chosen as the signifiers of an event. With this, it helps to run each task once the criteria are met.

However, situations may arise where users may need to disable a scheduled task. Perhaps the task is slowing down the PC or it is no longer needed. In such a situation, there are four ways to disable the scheduled task.

Using the task scheduler to deactivate scheduled tasks

Just as tasks are enabled on the task scheduler, users can also disable them. Here’s how to turn off scheduled tasks using Task Scheduler:

Step 1: Click the Windows button at the bottom left of your PC screen.

2nd step: Scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools and click the drop-down arrow to reveal the different tools.

Step 3: Go to Task Scheduler and click on it. Another way to launch the Task Scheduler is to click on the search box next to the Windows button, enter the phrase, Task Scheduler and click the icon or press Enter.

Step 4: When the task scheduler launches, click on the task scheduler library.

Step 5: Browse the Task Scheduler library to locate the task (s) you need to disable. In some cases, you may need to browse different folders to locate the tasks.

Step 6: After selecting the task, in the right pane named Actions, click the tab named Selected Item to open a drop-down list.

Step 7: Select Disable from the list of available options.

Once you have completed the above steps, you should successfully deactivate the scheduled task.

Using the Windows Command Prompt to Disable Scheduled Tasks

Command Prompt is also another option to consider when trying to disable tasks on Windows 10 and earlier versions. This is how it works:

Step 1: In the Windows search bar, type a search query for the command prompt and select Enter to launch it.

2nd step: Typically, scheduled tasks are stored in the root folder of the Task Scheduler library. After the Command Prompt starts, type this command into the Command Prompt if your tasks are in the library in the root folder.

schtasks /Change /TN "<task name>" /Disable

However, if the scheduled tasks are in a different folder than the root folder of the Task Scheduler, use the actual folder name as shown below:

schtasks /Change /TN "<folder location><task name>" /Disable

The task name should be the name of the task to be deactivated while the folder name should be the location where the task is stored.

Step 3: Select Enter on your keyboard to run the command.

Using Windows Elevated Command Prompt to Disable Scheduled Tasks

If you get an access denied error while running command prompts, it means you need administrator rights. This will require you to launch the elevated command prompt. You can access the elevated command prompt by:

Step 1: In the Windows search bar, type cmd in Windows search.

2nd step: To the right of the search result, select Run as administrator.

Step 3: Select Yes to run the command prompt as administrator.

Step 4: In the Command Prompt window, depending on the location of the task type entry:

schtasks /Change /TN "<task name>" /Disable

or

schtasks /Change /TN "<folder location><task name>" /Disable

Step 5: Select Enter on your keyboard to run the command.

Using Windows PowerShell to Disable Scheduled Tasks

Unlike the Command Prompt, which is available on all versions of Windows, Windows PowerShell is only available on Windows 10. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: In the Windows search box, type the Windows PowerShell search query and select Enter on the keyboard to launch it. If you receive an error message indicating that access is denied, try running the application as administrator.

2nd step: Type one of the commands provided below into PowerShell. Your choice will depend on the location of the scheduled task.

Task Scheduler Library Root Folder:

Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskName "<task name>"

Another folder besides the root folder:

Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "<folder location>" -TaskName "<task name>"

Step 3: Select Enter on your keyboard to run the command.

Using Microsoft Power Automate

With the steps mentioned above, you can enable or disable scheduled tasks on Windows 10. Besides Task Scheduler, Microsoft Power Automate is another tool that you can use to automate tasks on Windows 10.