Powershell script from Windows 10 task scheduler not launching Chrome

Question

I made a small Powershell script 'Start.ps1' which launches some websites on Windows startup. When I launch it manually, all configured websites are started in Chrome. However, when I run it with task scheduler, the task runs, but Chrome does not start.

schtasks /create /tn "Start" /sc onstart /delay 0000:30 /rl highest /ru system /tr "powershell.exe -file 'C:\Users\myuser\Google Drive\Home\Start.ps1'"

I've also added some logs in my powershell script so I'm sure the script has started:

Function Write-Log {
  Param (
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage='Log output')][string]$Log,
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage='Log severity')][ValidateSet('Debug', 'Info', 'Warning', 'Error', 'Unknown')][string]$Severity,
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True,HelpMessage='Log message')][string]$Message
  )
  $Now = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,fff'
  $LocalScriptName = Split-Path -Path $myInvocation.ScriptName -Leaf
  If ( $Log -eq 'Verbose' ) {
    Write-Verbose -Message ('{0}: {1}: {2}: {3}' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Severity, $Message)
  }
  ElseIf ( $Log -eq 'Debug' ) {
    Write-Debug -Message ('{0}: {1}: {2}: {3}' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Severity, $Message)
  }
  ElseIf ( $Log -eq 'Output' ) {
    Write-Verbose -Message ('{0}: {1}: {2}: {3}' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Severity, $Message)
  }
  ElseIf ( $Log -match '^(([a-zA-Z0-9]|[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9\-]*[a-zA-Z0-9])\.)*([A-Za-z0-9]|[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9\-]*[A-Za-z0-9])(?::(?<port>\d+))$' -or $Log -match '^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$' ) {
    $IpOrHost = $log.Split(':')[0]
    $Port = $log.Split(':')[1]
    If ( $IpOrHost -match '^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$' ) {
      $Ip = $IpOrHost
    }
    Else {
      $Ip = [Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses($IpOrHost)[0].IPAddressToString
    }
    Try {
      $LocalHostname = ([Net.Dns]::GetHostByName((& "$env:windir\system32\hostname.exe")).HostName).tolower()
      $JsonObject = (New-Object -TypeName PSObject | 
        Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue logsource -InputObject $LocalHostname | 
        Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue hostname -InputObject $LocalHostname | 
        Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue scriptname -InputObject $LocalScriptName | 
        Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue logtime -InputObject $Now | 
        Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue severity_label -InputObject $Severity | 
      Add-Member -PassThru -NotePropertyName NoteProperty -NotePropertyValue message -InputObject $Message ) 
      If ( $psversiontable.psversion.major -ge 3 ) {
        $JsonString = $JsonObject | ConvertTo-Json
        $JsonString = $JsonString -replace "`n",' ' -replace "`r",' '
      }
      Else {
        $JsonString = $JsonObject | ConvertTo-Json2
      }               
      $Socket = New-Object -TypeName System.Net.Sockets.TCPClient -ArgumentList ($Ip,$Port) 
      $Stream = $Socket.GetStream() 
      $Writer = New-Object -TypeName System.IO.StreamWriter -ArgumentList ($Stream)
      $Writer.WriteLine($JsonString)
      $Writer.Flush()
      $Stream.Close()
      $Socket.Close()
    }
    Catch {
      Write-Verbose -Message ("{0}: {1}: Error: Something went wrong while trying to send message to logserver `"{2}`"." -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Log)
    }
    Write-Verbose -Message ('{0}: {1}: {2}: Ip: {3} Port: {4} JsonString: {5}' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Severity, $Ip, $Port, $JsonString)
  }
  ElseIf ($Log -match '^((([a-zA-Z]:)|(\\{2}\w+)|(\\{2}(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]\d\d|\d?\d)(?(?=\.?\d)\.)){4}))(\\(\w[\w ]*))*)') {
    If (Test-Path -Path $Log -pathType container){
      Write-Host ('{0}: {1}: Error: Passed Path is a directory. Please provide a file.' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName)
      Exit 1
    }
    ElseIf (!(Test-Path -Path $Log)) {
      Try {
        $Null = New-Item -Path $Log -ItemType file -Force   
      } 
      Catch { 
        $Now = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,fff'
        Write-Host ("{0}: {1}: Error: Write-Log was unable to find or create the path `"{2}`". Please debug.." -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Log)
        exit 1
      }
    }
    Try {
      ('{0}: {1}: {2}: {3}' -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Severity, $Message) | Out-File -filepath $Log -Append   
    }
    Catch {
      Write-Host ("{0}: {1}: Error: Something went wrong while writing to file `"{2}`". It might be locked." -f $Now, $LocalScriptName, $Log)
    }
  }
}

$Logfile="c:\Tempo\Start.log"
Write-Log $Logfile Info "Initiating Chrome Site Startup"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "https://outsideit.net"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "https://psychologischezorgopmaat.be"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "https://github.com"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "https://gitlab.com"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "http://localhost:9200"
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -ArgumentList "http://localhost:5601"
Write-Log $Logfile Info "Finalizing Chrome Site Startup"

How can I make this work in Task Scheduler? I tried running it with SYSTEM and my own user and with the "Run with highest privilege" option.

Answer 1

Always test if the scheduled task is working as intended when you run it manually (Scheduled Tasks - right click your task and Run it). When that works, move on to test if it works as intended when you start up the computer (or whenever, depending on the trigger).

When I imported your task with through cmd with the SYSTEM user account, the default setting was "Run whether user is logged on or not". If I tried to run it manually, the script wouldn't start. I then changed the user to my account, changed the option to "Run only when the user is logged on", and that fixed the problem for me (many times before, as well). I wasn't able to change this option when using the SYSTEM user.