Sometimes it’s handy to have a scheduled task do something in Windows XP. I use a couple for different reasons. One is to do a weekly backup of data from one disk to another, and the other is to do a daily grab of the TV guide from IceTV to process and deliver to my Topfield PVR.
Annoyingly, but probably appropriately, XP doesn’t let you run scheduled tasks by default without a password set on the user account. This is described in Microsoft knowledge base article 310715.
Instead of creating a password for my login at home, and instead of creating a ‘dummy’ account with a password just for scheduled tasks, I found this: Scheduled Tasks – Running Tasks Without A Password.
For XP Pro: Go to Start/Administrative Tools/Local Security Policy/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options
Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only. This is enabled by default, disable it.For XP Home: (Keith Miller) Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LsaValue name: limitblankpassworduse, Type: REG_DWORD, Data: 0 (disabled) 1 (enabled)
Anyway, it works…
I understand that with making the above change, remote desktop no longer will require a password. Something you should like about.
I think that you are right. hmm.. So not wanting to spend much time on this (my XP box now sits underneath my desk collecting dust while I type this on my Mac…)
It occurred to me that maybe I could simply disable Remote Desktop…I found this article in the Microsoft knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306300
” You can also use the following procedure to disable Remote Desktop; however, if you use the preceding procedure, the following configuration is overridden:
1. Right-click My Computer and click Properties.
2. Click the Remote tab.
3. In the Remote Desktop section, click to clear Allow users to connect remotely to this computer, and then click OK.”
Thanks for the tip!
Cam.
Without doing major research into this, this seems like a really bad idea. Does this mean someone can remotely access your registry? What about the default file shares? There are open ports even with SP2 and the firewall enabled, this seems like a really bad idea.
You are probably right – it is probably a bad idea. Although I’m not sure how anyone could access my registry remotely. In addition to running a third party firewall, I have other physical security mechanisms in place anyway – the best one being that I no longer use my XP box!
I’m one of this pesky switchers and have almost fully converted to Mac.
Cam.
your trick is awesome. thanks truly.
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