What causes "querying scheduled task {task} failed: {}" in jdx/mise?

Check the embedded stderr message: if it says the task does not exist, run the task's apply/create first or treat 'not found' as expected

jdx/mise · error

querying scheduled task

Error message

querying scheduled task {task} failed: {}

What it means

After running the schtasks query, mise checks the exit status; a non-zero status makes mise surface schtasks' stderr verbatim as this error. It wraps the underlying Windows Task Scheduler failure — typically 'the system cannot find the file specified' when the task does not exist, or access/timeout problems.

Solutions

Check the embedded stderr message: if it says the task does not exist, run the task's apply/create first or treat 'not found' as expected
Run the terminal elevated (or as the same user that created the task) if access was denied
Verify the Task Scheduler service is running and retry; note the separate timeout error exists for hangs
Run `schtasks /query /tn <name>` manually to reproduce and see the raw error

Example fix

// before
let running = task_exists("Mise\\deploy-hook").await?;
// after
let running = match task_exists("Mise\\deploy-hook").await {
    Ok(v) => v,
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("cannot find") => false,
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
};

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

match mise_scheduled_task_status(name) {
    Ok(status) => status,
    Err(e) if e.to_string().to_lowercase().contains("cannot find") => Status::Missing,
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

Prevention

Treat 'task not found' stderr as an expected state, not a hard failure
Ensure the same user/elevation level created and queries the task
Run apply before querying newly configured tasks
Verify the Task Scheduler service is healthy on the machine

When it happens

Trigger: query() in scheduled_tasks.rs runs schtasks and the process exits non-zero: the task name does not exist, the user lacks permission to read the task, the Task Scheduler service is unavailable, or the command printed an error to stderr.

Common situations: Checking status of a scheduled task before it was ever created (apply never ran), running without the privileges needed to read tasks in another folder or created by another user, or schtasks failing due to a transient system condition.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ba9512ba5dcbd19f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/system/scheduled_tasks.rs:492

    }
    let args = [
        "-NoProfile".to_string(),
        "-NonInteractive".to_string(),
        "-Command".to_string(),
        query_script(name),
    ];
    debug!("$ powershell {}", shell_words::join(&args));
    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new("powershell.exe");
    cmd.args(&args)
        .stdin(Stdio::null())
        .stdout(Stdio::piped())
        .stderr(Stdio::piped())
        .kill_on_drop(true);
    let output = tokio::time::timeout(SCHTASKS_TIMEOUT, cmd.output())
        .await
        .map_err(|_| eyre!("querying scheduled task {task} timed out"))??;
    if !output.status.success() {
        bail!(
            "querying scheduled task {task} failed: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim()
        );
    }
    Ok(parse_query(&String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout)))
}

fn parse_query(output: &str) -> Option<Query> {
    let state = output.trim();
    if state.eq_ignore_ascii_case("MISSING") || state.is_empty() {
        return None;
    }
    Some(Query {
        running: state.eq_ignore_ascii_case("Running"),
        disabled: state.eq_ignore_ascii_case("Disabled"),
    })
}

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