In server 2008, when using the task scheduler to start an application, the priority is by default lowered for 3 different entries. Processor priority, I/O priority and memory priority. By exporting the task and changing the xml to priority 5 instead of 7, processor priority and i/o priority are restored to the same values as when running the task interactively. Unfortunately, memory priority remains lower than when run without the scheduler. All values are being observed using procexp.exe. Is there a way to boost the memory priority to the same level as when not using the task scheduler? This is causing a significant performance problem with one of our applications only when run from the task scheduler. Thanks, Tom

Using task manager this is not possible; however I would recommend trying the Windows System Resource Manager, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754150.aspx -- Mike Burr

Hi Mike, Thanks for this. Is there a specific setting in a resource policy that controls this? Tom

Hi, There is not an explicit setting for the memory priority, but you can ensure that the process gets enough memory by limiting other processes that consume a lot of memory, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771472.aspx The recommended method with WSRM is to set resource policies regarding the processor. When you set the CPU % usage to 0 for the application, this will give the process the ability to use the processor as it needs and if there is a higher level of activity in the process, the memory management functions in Windows will keep more of the pages for the process in memory rather than paging out to disk. Assuming that other processes that are memory hogs are sufficiently limited, then this should help control the memory contention issue. Ensuring that other processes are limited and that there is a large page file should help. -- Mike Burr

See http://serverfault.com/questions/151824/process-runs-slower-as-a-scheduled-task-than-it-does-interactively for possible solution.

I was looking for the same solution but by C# code , suddenly i saw this article after ur question, but i really havent checked that i just sent that for u, make backup of ur task before delete that. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2427142/is-there-any-way-for-a-win2k8-scheduled-task-to-have-normal-priority-io