Run Cron Job on PHP Script, on localhost in Windows

recently I had sort of problems to run a cron job on a php script on localhost (WAMP server) in windows 7, when I was on a test to chronically fetch some links from www out there.

By the way I am sharing this for anyone that is on the same thing.

You will need a shellscript to run chronically, using Windows Task Scheduler. Also you will need a batch script (script.bat) to call the php.exe and run your php script (here called as my_process.php)

shellscript.vbs

Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WinScriptHost.Run Chr(34) & "C:\path\to\script\script.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WinScriptHost = Nothing

script.bat

"C:\wamp\bin\php\php5.4.12\php.exe" -f "C:\wamp\www\website\my_process.php"

Now, we are ready to set the Windows Task Scheduler to run shellscript.vbs at the required time interval:

1. Open Task Scheduler from windows Start menu
2. Go to Action menu and hit Create Task...
3. in General tab, fill the Name and Description fields as you want
4. in Triggers tab, hit New button.
5. from Begin the Task dropdown, select On a schedule and choose Daily
6. from Advanced settings section, select Repeat task every as you want and set for a duration on Indefinitely.
7. on Actions tab, from Action dropdown, select Start a program.
8. on the Program\script box, enter path to shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs.
9. leave Add argumentts (optional) section empty.
10. in Start in (optional) box, enter parent directory of shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\.
11. Hit upvote on this tutorial :) Have fun.

To setup a Windows machine to run cron.php at a specific time follow the specific instructions below. This can be useful if you are not familiar with Linux/Unix, or if your web host does not offer the ability to run cron jobs; you can run them remotely from your own computer.

Note: These instructions were written for Windows XP but should be similar in other versions of Windows.

https://www.drupal.org/node/31506

If you use answer from Trix and get same problem as Metafaniel:

I have a problem, with this procedure, the task is beinge executed, however my php script it's not running, I got the "Open with" dialogue. If I see the properties of my task, it states: ActionName C:\Windows\system32\OpenWith.exe even if I set it to the vbs file as you suggested. What am I doing wrong?

you should use this:

8. Instead "enter path to shellscript.vbs like C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs." use "C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe"
9. Instead "leave Add argumentts (optional) section empty" use (with quotes): "C:\path\to\shellscript.vbs"

After many failed attempts at using Windows Task Scheduler this is the method that worked for me on my Windows 10 Professional machine. I just skipped adding a .vbs and .bat file and posted the PATH to the script file directly.

Under "Actions > Settings" Where it gives the option to browse for a "Program/Script" that's where I put the full PATH AND Filename to the script I wanted to run WITHOUT quotes.

C:\Server\Scripts\script.py

Then in the same area under "Actions > Settings" right below the text box where you just entered your "Program/Script", it has the area that says "Start in (optional)". That's where I put the PATH to the program that runs the script (ie: python.exe in this instance). But I did not specify "python.exe" directly I used the PATH ONLY without quotes like shown below.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Shared\Python37_64

If you installed Python directly without Visual Studio it will be under a different path probably something like "C:\Program Files\Python\Python37" or something similar if I remember correctly...