How to schedule a task to run when shutting down windows

How do you schedule a task in Windows XP to run when you shutdown windows. Such that I want to run a simple command line program I wrote in c# everytime I shut down windows. There doesn't seem to be an option in scheduled tasks to perform this task when my computer shuts down.

Solution 1:

Execute gpedit.msc (local Policies)

Computer Configuration -> Windows settings -> Scripts -> Shutdown -> Properties -> Add

Solution 2:

In addition to Dan Williams' answer, if you want to add a Startup/Shutdown script, you need to be looking for Windows Settings under Computer Configuration. If you want to add a Logon/Logoff script, you need to be looking for Windows Settings under User Configuration.

So to reiterate what Dan said with this information included,

For Startup/Shutdown:

1. Run gpedit.msc (Local Policies)
2. Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Scripts -> Startup or Shutdown -> Properties -> Add

For Logon/Logoff:

1. Run gpedit.msc (Local Policies)
2. User Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Scripts -> Logon or Logoff -> Properties -> Add

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739591(WS.10).aspx

Solution 3:

For those who prefer using the Task Scheduler, it's possible to schedule a task to run after a restart / shutdown has been initiated by setting the task to run after event 1074 in the System log in the Event Viewer has been logged. However, it's only good for very short task, which will run as long as the system is restarting / shutting down, which is usually only a few seconds.

• From the Task Scheduler:
  

  Begin the task: On an event
  Log: System
  Source: USER32
  EventID: 1074

• From the command prompt:
  

  schtasks /create /tn "taskname" /tr "task file" /sc onevent /ec system /mo *[system/eventid=1074]

Comment: the /ec option is available from Windows Vista and above. (thank you @t2d)

Please note that the task status can be:

The operation being requested was not performed because the user has not logged on to the network. The specified service does not exist. (0x800704DD)

However, it doesn't mean that it didn't run.