Some cygwin commands are .exe
files, so you can run them with the standard Windows Scheduler, but others don't have an .exe
extension so can't be run from DOS (it seems like).
For example I want updatedb
to run nightly.
How do I make cron work?
You have two options:
Install cron as a windows service, using cygrunsrv:
The 'non .exe' files are probably bash scripts, so you can run them via the windows scheduler by invoking bash to run the script, e.g.:
Just wanted to add that the options to cron seem to have changed. Need to pass -n rather than -D.
hat tip http://linux.subogero.com/894/cron-on-cygwin/
Start the cygwin-setup and add the “cron” package from the “Admin” category.
We’ll run cron as a service by user SYSTEM. Poor SYSTEM therefore needs a home directory and a shell. The “/etc/passwd” file will define them.
The start the service:
Local users can now define their scheduled tasks like this (crontab will start your favourite editor):
Domain users: it does not work. Poor cron is unable to run scheduled tasks on behalf of domain users on the machine. But there is another way: cron also runs stuff found in the system level cron table in “/etc/crontab”. So insert your suff there, so that SYSTEM does it on its own behalf:
Finally a few words about crontab entries. They are either environment settings or scheduled commands. As seen above, on Cygwin it’s best to create a usable PATH. Home dir and shell are normally taken from “/etc/passwd”.
As to the columns of scheduled commands see the manual page.
If certain crontab entries do not run, the best diagnostic tool is this:
Applied the instructions from this answer and it worked Just to point out a more copy paste like answer ( because cygwin installation procedure is kind of anti-copy-paste wise implemented )
Click WinLogo button , type cmd.exe , right click it , choose "Start As Administrator". In cmd prompt:
Ensure the installer does not throw any errors in the prompt ... If it has - you probably have some cygwin binaries running or you are not an Windows admin, or some freaky bug ...
Now in cmd promt:
or whatever full file path you might have to the cygrunsrv.exe and start the cron as windows service in the cmd prompt
Now in bash terminal run crontab -e
set up you cron entry an example bellow:
The correct syntax to install cron in cygwin as Windows service is to pass -n as argument and not -D:
cygrunsrv --install cron --path /usr/sbin/cron --args -n
-D returns usage error when starting cron in cygwin:
$
$cygrunsrv --install cron --path /usr/sbin/cron --args -D
$cygrunsrv --start cron
cygrunsrv: Error starting a service: QueryServiceStatus: Win32 error 1062:
The service has not been started.
$cat /var/log/cron.log
cron: unknown option -- D
usage: /usr/sbin/cron [-n] [-x [ext,sch,proc,parc,load,misc,test,bit]]
$
Below page has a good explanation.
Installing & Configuring the Cygwin Cron Service in Windows: https://www.davidjnice.com/cygwin_cron_service.html
P.S. I had to run Cygwin64 Terminal on my Windows 10 PC as administrator in order to install cron as Windows service.