Solved "Task Scheduler Service Is Not Available"

After effecting a repair install as per the Tute in these forums of Vista Ultimate SP2 x64 (my main OS) whenever I call up Task Scheduler I get a popup accompanying it with the header plus "Task Scheduler will attempt to reconnect".
The Task Scheduler Service appears in services.msc but is greyed out.
The services it depends on are all running OK as far as I can see.
Ideas anyone? An sfc /scannow run in an elevated Command Prompt doesn't find anything wrong.
Pics Below:

Hello Peter,

If you like, you can download and merge the REG file below, then restart the computer to see if it may help. It will reset the registry entries for Task Scheduler itself and the Task Scheduler service back to default. If you have any custom tasks in Task Scheduler, they will be lost though.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Sean but the service is still greyed out and now I get lots of popups when opening Task Scheduler that it has been tampered with and then each popup lists a different item...oh dear, who would have thought a "repair" would break things. Remember I didn't have even the use of my mouse for a while after I did it....in all the years of fixing things I've never come across this, it's rather weird.

I hate to say it Peter, but it may be time for a clean install.

That's what I'm thinking and this all started because the system was a bit slow, which I could have coped with, but I just had to start trying to fix things, which opened the proverbial Pandora's Box.

OK thanks, I'll start doing fresh backups of my files and settings. Not sure when I'll take the plunge though as it's a question of finding the time.

Thanks again.

Yeah, it stinks when playing with it breaks it. If we don't play, we don't learn though.

That's true. As the system was screwed up anyway (or so it appears although everything else seems to work except I can't call up Vista's built-in defragger - it never shows but have others I can use) I decided to be heavy handed and went into the registry and deleted all the offending tasks that were throwing up these errors....30 in all and now Task Scheduler opens without protest. But I have probably turned Vista into a glorified Windows 95-and-a-half in the process....LOL
Do such tasks rebuild themselves?
This also begs the question, and please don't take offense, are you sure that reg fix was for Vista SP2 x64 and not another version of Windows?
I ask because your reg fixes usually are spot-on.
Forgive me for asking.

Nope. If you delete a task, it's gone for good unless manually added back by you or settings in a program.

It was from a Vista Ultimate SP2 32-bit.

Hmm oh well, looks like I am doomed to format and reinstall and of course, this being me main OS I have literally tons of programs installed...ah well, I'll think about it for a while.

I did come across this reg fix for Vista TS online (which of course has to be saved as a .reg file) most likely the same as yours:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Schedule] "AtTaskMaxHours"=dword:00000048 "DisplayName"="@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\schedsvc.dll,-100" "Group"="SchedulerGroup" "ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\ 00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\ 6b,00,20,00,6e,00,65,00,74,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,73,00,00,00 "Description"="@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\schedsvc.dll,-101" "ObjectName"="LocalSystem" "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001 "Start"=dword:00000002 "Type"=dword:00000020 "DependOnService"=hex(7):52,00,50,00,43,00,53,00,53,00,00,00,45,00,76,00,65,00,\ 6e,00,74,00,4c,00,6f,00,67,00,00,00,00,00 "ServiceSidType"=dword:00000001 "RequiredPrivileges"=hex(7):53,00,65,00,49,00,6e,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,61,00,73,\ 00,65,00,51,00,75,00,6f,00,74,00,61,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,\ 65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,43,00,68,00,61,00,6e,00,67,00,65,00,4e,\ 00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,\ 67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,75,00,64,00,69,00,74,00,50,00,72,00,69,\ 00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6d,00,70,00,\ 65,00,72,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,\ 00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,73,00,73,00,69,00,67,00,\ 6e,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,6d,00,61,00,72,00,79,00,54,00,6f,00,6b,00,65,00,6e,\ 00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,\ 54,00,63,00,62,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,\ 00,53,00,65,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,\ 76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,00,00 "FailureActions"=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\ 00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Schedule\Parameters] "ServiceDll"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,\ 00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\ 73,00,63,00,68,00,65,00,64,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,\ 00 "ServiceDllUnloadOnStop"=dword:00000001 "ServiceMain"="ServiceMain" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Schedule\Enum] "0"="Root\\LEGACY_SCHEDULE\\0000" "Count"=dword:00000001 "NextInstance"=dword:00000001 ;Created on Oct 30, 2007 - Winhelponline.com

Thanks Sean, I will now go and crawl under a rock. LOL

That looks like the first part of it minus the part for the service. The service is the same in 32-bit & 64-bit though.

I hope the reinstall goes smoothly this round.

Thanks....it'll be a while before I get around to it. Just too much going on at the moment. Right now it would be an easier option to go to Mars, believe me...!

Shawn, I apologize for misspelling your first name by the way. I just discovered something about this Task Scheduler Service being greyed out. It isn't unique to my main Vista, not only does my test Vista rig show the same but so do both the main and test Windows 7 OS's.
Reading elsewhere that the built-in Windows Defragmenter wont operate unless the Task Scheduler Service is available it suddenly occurred to me to use some reverse logic.....if one has a commercial defragger installed, as I do in all my OS's (as many people do even if it's just part of a toolkit or even a PC security suite), that will control what happens with not only defragging but possibly also with the Task Scheduler service. It seems logical to me to argue that either that or some other process is guarding the service and preventing changes. It is set to Automatic and apparently Started although settings are greyed out, as is the case in the other OS's.
Many people will probably be in the same boat as I am wondering about this so thought I would share my thoughts on the subject.
It's still odd though.
Maybe I can avoid formatting after all...says he clutching at straws.
Your thoughts?

LOL, no worries Peter. I'm used to my name being spelled every which way.

It's a thought, but I haven't seen any program that disabled Task Scheduler or Windows Defragmenter before.

The strange thing is Task Scheduler itself is OK and I can add tasks and they work. Since early XP Gold days I've never trusted Task Scheduler anyway so never use it. It's just the TS Service that is greyed out but says it is Started and Automatic.
Stranger still is the fact that Microsoft don't seem to have an answer for it as it's been a perennial question for years.

Ignore...I finally hit gold using Google - an article from 2011.

This TechNet article (Event ID 404 ) mentions:
"The Task Scheduler service is automatically started by Service Control Manager (SCM). The Task Scheduler service cannot be stopped or disabled by administrators using the Services Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in user interface, unless special permissions are added to the administrator token."

Click to expand...

Also some hints on how to alter the settings: http://social.technet.microsoft.com...y/thread/B9E5A4C0-073C-42FD-A390-8B2AEE407A4F

That's perfect.