How to Schedule Tasks from Command Line Windows 10/11

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Learn how to automate daily reboots or shutdowns at specific times using the command line or command prompt in Windows 10/11.

Below is an example of scheduling a computer shutdown daily at 6 PM:


schtasks /create /sc daily /tn ShutdownAt6PM /tr "shutdown -s -f -t 2" /st 18:00 /NP

schtasks: Command used to schedule tasks. The deprecated AT command from earlier Windows versions is no longer supported.

/create: Creates a new task.

/sc: Sets the frequency of the task, such as once or daily.

/tn: Specifies the name of the task, serving as its description.

/tr: Defines the command to execute, like “shutdown -s -f -t 2“. Here, -s initiates shutdown, -f forces shutdown, and -t 2 introduces a 2-second delay. Replace -s with -r to reboot instead of shutting down.

/st: Indicates the time to execute the command.

/NP: Ensures the scheduled task runs on Windows computers irrespective of user logins.

By using this command, you can streamline and automate regular shutdowns or reboots for enhanced system management.

How to Extract Private Key and SSL Certificate from a Certificate.pfx file

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If you have an SSL certificate in pfx format (also called PKCS#12 format) and that usually includes the SSL certificate for your host or domain along with the private key (usually the key is secured with a password), and if you want to extract the certificate file and the private key, here what you can do

Assuming the name of the certificate is MyCertificate.pfx

1- download/Install/extract OpenSSL command line utility into a temp folder.

2- Copy the the MyCertificate.pfx certificate file into that folder.

3- To export the ssl certificate into pem format

openssl  pkcs12  -in  MyCertificate.pfx  -nokeys  -out  MyCertificate.pem

4- To export private key:
openssl  pkcs12  -in MyCertificate.pfx  -nocerts  -out  MyPrivateKey.pem  -nodes

5- To remove the passphrase/password from the private key:
openssl rsa  -in  MyPrivateKey.pem  -out   NewPrivateKey.key

Now you have you have the certificate MyCerificate.pem & the private key NewPrivateKey.key (the names here could be anything – you can name them or rename them to anything descriptive or to whatever your webserver/web application documentation requires).

 

My notes on Halo (unrelated to the above)

Open the “cert” on the servers desktop, backup the current certificate and private key and move them out.  Copy the new cert and private key and match the names to backup files..

Restart Halo services.