PowerShell script lacks consistency when run through task scheduler, am I missing something or is this Windows being Windows? - powershell

Question

I am a beginner in PowerShell.
I have created myself a PowerShell program to act as my alarm clock in the morning. I have task scheduler executing it on a time trigger. The problem i am having is a lack of consistency. Sometimes it will run properly without any interference, other times it will open PowerShell, error out and close immediately without executing (no error code). When i execute it myself with a double click, it seems to work just fine.
Execution Policy = All-Signed
Task Scheduler
Trigger Tab:
Trigger: Daily
Details: At 8:00 AM every Day
Status: Enabled
Action Tab:
Action: Start a Program
Program/Script: PowerShell.exe
Add arguments: -NoExit D:\Programs\AlarmClock\AlarmClockScript.ps1
Script:
#define loop start state
$Snoozevar = 'Yes'
#Import form module (for menu)
[reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.forms") | Out-Null
#Menu
$snoozeTxtBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$snoozeTxtBox.Text = 'Snooze'
$snoozeTxtBox.Location = '50,15'
$snoozeTxtBox.Size = '60,23'
$snoozeTxtBox.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::Yes # 'Snooze' = Yes
$quitTxtBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$quitTxtBox.Text = 'I`m Up'
$quitTxtBox.Location = '125,15'
$quitTxtBox.Size = '50,23'
$quitTxtBox.DialogResult = [System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult]::No # 'I`m Up' = No
$basicForm = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$basicForm.StartPosition = 'CenterScreen'
$basicForm.Size = '250,100'
$basicForm.Controls.Add($snoozeTxtBox)
$basicForm.Controls.Add($quitTxtBox)
$basicForm.TopMost = $true
while ($Snoozevar -eq 'Yes'){
Start-Process "D:\Programs\Winamp\winamp.exe" /PLAY # Start Winamp /autoplay
Start-Process D:\Programs\nircmd\nircmd.exe -ArgumentList " setsysvolume 65535" #Max Volume
$Snoozevar = $basicForm.ShowDialog() # Call Menu, assign output to $Snoozevar
$pro = Get-Process -Name "winamp" # Kill winamp post menu selection
Stop-Process -Id $pro.Id
$pro = ""
if ($Snoozevar -eq 'No'){ # Clean up powershell
$pro = Get-Process -Name powershell
Stop-Process $pro
} #end if
$rngvar = Get-Random -Minimum 540 -Maximum 720 # Time to Snooze (9-12 minutes)
Start-Sleep -Seconds $rngvar
} #end while
# SIG # Begin signature block
...
# SIG # End signature block
This is my first time asking a question here, please forgive and point out mistakes in forum standards.
Thank You in advance!

Answer 1

Here's a summary of the things that can be done to diagnose an inconsistend scheduled task execution.
Since your task is interactive (have a form), Run whether user is logged on or not should be left unchecked. While you'd normally want it checked most of the time, tasks that interact with the user (popup / forms / etc...) won't work properly if thus option is checked.
Add Start-Transcript -Path "Some\Path\AlarmLog_$(get-date -f 'yyyyMMdd').txt at the beginning of your file and Stop-Transcript at the end to gain more insight on when it fail
Make sure to check the Conditions tab as there are additional constraint that could affect task execution (eg: By default, task will not execute if on battery power)
If the task is running under a different user or in a different context (eg: with Highest priviledges), try to execute your script in that context to see if it fail (for instance, start Vscode / ISE using that context and run the task)
If you have multiple set of operations, you can wrap them in Try / Catch block so if one set fail, you can perform additional logging and also decide whether or not the task should be cancelled altogether or continue through. (Note: When using try/catch, you'll want to set -ErrorAction Stop on the functions that have that parameter to make sure they get caught properly in the catch block.
References
Msdocs - Start-Transcript
Msdocs - Task scheduler -Security context for running task