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A ShruggieTech project

Installing go-schedule on Windows

Audience: Windows users installing go-schedule
Applies to: MSI-based releases from 0.6.0 onward; Wails desktop guidance applies beginning with v1.4.0
See also: gosched command reference · Linux · macOS

Release status: This guide describes the v1.4.0 package boundary. The latest-release page is authoritative for whether that version has completed draft staging, attended qualification, and promotion.

go-schedule installs as a formal Windows application via an .msi package. It puts the program in Program Files, runs the scheduler as an auto-starting Windows service, adds the install directory to PATH, and lets you choose Start Menu and desktop shortcuts. There is no “extract a zip and run an exe from Downloads” step.

The v1.4.0 package installs the Wails desktop at the established gosched-gui.exe path. Upgrading a Fyne-era MSI replaces that executable in place, preserves daemon-owned tasks and run history, and migrates a valid System, Light, or Dark appearance preference on first Wails start. Framework-specific font and scroll settings are intentionally retired.

The Windows service automatically loads C:\ProgramData\goschedule\config.json when that file exists. Follow Remote access to create and validate that file before restarting the service. MSI installation and upgrade never create a remote configuration or open a network listener.

Contents

Install

  1. From the latest release, download go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi.

  2. (Recommended) Verify the download against SHA256SUMS.txt:

    Get-FileHash .\go-schedule_*_windows_amd64.msi -Algorithm SHA256

  3. Double-click the .msi and complete the wizard. Windows prompts for administrator approval (UAC), this is required because the installer registers a system service. Approve it.

The installer creates or reuses the local goschedadmin group and adds the interactive account that launched setup. The daemon authorizes that direct user by its stable user SID, so the installing user can launch immediately without signing out or running the desktop application elevated. A fresh sign-in is only needed when normal Windows group-token refresh matters, such as for nested-group membership. The installer then:

  • installs gosched-gui.exe, goschedd.exe, and gosched.exe to C:\Program Files\go-schedule\;
  • registers goschedd as a Windows service set to start automatically, so your tasks run in the background and survive reboots even with no one logged in;
  • adds C:\Program Files\go-schedule\ to the machine PATH, so gosched works as a command;
  • grants daemon IPC access to SYSTEM, built-in Administrators, and members of goschedadmin;
  • creates the shortcuts selected in the wizard.

Installer choices

Fresh attended setup selects a Start Menu shortcut by default and leaves the desktop shortcut unselected. You can choose either, both, or neither. Windows Installer maintenance mode can add or remove either shortcut later. Every installer-created shortcut uses the go-schedule icon and opens the windowless desktop application.

After a successful fresh attended install, the completion page offers two independent choices:

  • Launch go-schedule is selected by default.
  • Open the documentation website is unselected by default and uses the system’s default HTTPS browser.

Either, both, or neither may be selected. Setup never launches the application or browser after a silent install, repair, modification, upgrade, failed or canceled operation, rollback, or uninstall.

Launch go-schedule from either installed shortcut to open the desktop app. It connects to the already-running service rather than starting a second copy, and it never shows a console window.

Data location: tasks and logs live under C:\ProgramData\goschedule\, the database goschedule.db and the logs\ folder. Both are created automatically on first run.

Using the CLI

The CLI is installed alongside the app and is on your PATH. Open a new PowerShell window, an already-open shell inherited its environment before the install and will not see the new PATH entry until it is restarted.

gosched health

gosched service status

gosched task add backup `
  --command "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" --arg "/c" --arg "echo backup" `
  --schedule "every weekday at 09:00"

gosched task list

gosched logs --severity error

service status works from an ordinary, non-elevated shell. The subcommands that change the service, install, uninstall, start, stop, restart, require an elevated one. Full detail in the command reference.

If you would rather not open a new window, the full path works in the shell you already have:

& "C:\Program Files\go-schedule\gosched.exe" health

Upgrading

Download the newer .msi and run it. It performs an in-place major upgrade: the old version is removed and the new one installed, your PATH entry is replaced rather than duplicated, and your data under C:\ProgramData\goschedule\ is preserved. Upgrades between installers that expose the shortcut choices retain the installed feature state unless an administrator explicitly changes it. The first upgrade from an older installer uses the new defaults because the older package did not contain matching shortcut-feature identities.

The default service configuration, daemon identity, client relationships, and audit records live in the preserved data directory. An upgrade does not enable remote access or replace certificate state. If an administrator deliberately registered the service outside the MSI with gosched service install --config, repeat that explicit registration after an MSI repair or upgrade because Windows Installer owns the packaged service definition.

Uninstalling

Use Settings -> Apps -> Installed apps -> go-schedule -> Modify. Windows Installer’s direct Uninstall action can run with a reduced interface that does not show package-authored choices, so go-schedule deliberately disables that Settings action. Modify opens the full maintenance wizard. Select Remove there to reach the removal inventory and these choices before any software or data is removed:

  • Remove software and preserve application data (default). This stops and removes the service, binaries, product registration, machine PATH entry, installer registry markers, and every selected installer-created shortcut. It preserves tasks, history, configuration, logs, runtime files, and desktop preferences for a later reinstall.
  • Remove software and erase application data. This requires a separate, explicit confirmation. Cleanup begins only after software removal commits successfully.

Wipe covers the application-owned machine root C:\ProgramData\goschedule\, the current Wails preference root AppData\Roaming\go-schedule\desktop, and the legacy Fyne preference leaf AppData\Roaming\fyne\tech.shruggie.goschedule for every safely registered, accessible local Windows profile on a fixed local volume. Wipe does not follow reparse points or accept path overrides. It does not delete exports, administrator-configured paths outside the default roots, adjacent user files, disconnected roaming copies, detached profile containers, or unregistered profile directories.

If any candidate root is redirected or otherwise unsafe, wipe refuses before deleting data. If a safe root cannot be completely removed, software removal still completes and a protected report is retained at:

C:\ProgramData\ShruggieTech\go-schedule-uninstall\
  b6f3c2e1-7a4d-4c9e-9b2a-1f6d8e5a0c34\cleanup-result.json

The report records only declared owned roots, outcomes, and Windows errors. HKLM\Software\ShruggieTech\go-schedule-uninstall summarizes State, RemainingCount, and ReportPath. A later successful wipe removes stale cleanup evidence.

The goschedadmin group and its memberships are also preserved. Other tools or administrators may rely on them, so uninstall does not erase that shared OS state. Remove them manually only if you are certain they are no longer wanted.

The missing direct Uninstall action affects only the Windows application list. Administrators and deployment tools can still use the silent commands below. Running the .msi directly also opens the same maintenance wizard.

Managed and silent setup

Windows Installer feature properties provide deterministic shortcut control. The default installs the Start Menu shortcut only. These examples show the other combinations:

# Both shortcuts
msiexec.exe /i .\go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi `
  ADDLOCAL=ALL /qn /norestart

# Neither shortcut
msiexec.exe /i .\go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi `
  REMOVE=StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut /qn /norestart

# Desktop only
msiexec.exe /i .\go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi `
  ADDLOCAL=DesktopShortcut REMOVE=StartMenuShortcut /qn /norestart

The same ADDLOCAL and REMOVE feature names can modify an installed package. Silent and reduced-UI setup never runs completion actions.

Silent uninstall preserves data unless the exact wipe opt-in is supplied:

# Software only; application data is preserved
msiexec.exe /x .\go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi `
  /qn /norestart /L*v .\go-schedule-uninstall.log

# Software and declared local application data
msiexec.exe /x .\go-schedule_<ver>_windows_amd64.msi `
  GOSCHEDULE_REMOVE_DATA=1 /qn /norestart /L*v .\go-schedule-wipe.log

Only 0 and 1 are valid values for GOSCHEDULE_REMOVE_DATA. The choice is not persisted. Supplying the wipe property during install, repair, reinstall, or major upgrade never schedules cleanup.

Release-candidate safety

A version tag stages a draft release instead of immediately publishing it. The Windows installer, its candidate manifest, the other platform assets, and the attended evidence stay non-public until a maintainer completes the Windows 11 gate.

The gate binds the installed MSI to its repository, tag commit, staging workflow run and attempt, ProductVersion, ProductCode, filename, byte size, and SHA-256. It requires normal-user access, native window and DPI measurements, two-minute connection-error observations, real manual and scheduled task runs, and the attended setup and uninstall matrix. Missing, failed, unavailable, skipped, timed-out, partial, stale, or altered evidence leaves the release in draft state.

Promotion downloads and revalidates the same MSI bytes. It does not rebuild a nominally equivalent installer after testing. Final checksums are created only after the attended evidence archive joins the complete asset set. See test/windows/README.md and specs/081-v140-release-preparation/quickstart.md for the current maintainer procedure. Creating a tag, promoting a draft, or publishing a release remains a separately authorized maintainer action.

Troubleshooting

gosched is not recognized as a command. The PATH entry is added at install time but is not broadcast into shells that were already open. Close the window and open a new one. If a brand-new shell still cannot find it, check that the entry exists:

([Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path','Machine') -split ';') |
  Where-Object { $_ -like '*go-schedule*' }

Versions before 0.6.0 did not add the entry at all; upgrading fixes it.

UAC prompt on install. Expected, registering a system service needs elevation. Declining cancels the install cleanly, leaving nothing behind.

The installer rolls back or reports error 1603. Retry from an elevated PowerShell window with verbose logging so the failed Windows Installer action is preserved:

$log = Join-Path $env:TEMP 'go-schedule-install.log'
$packages = @(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath . `
  -Filter 'go-schedule_*_windows_amd64.msi' -File)
if ($packages.Count -ne 1) {
  throw "Expected exactly one go-schedule MSI; found $($packages.Count)."
}
& msiexec.exe /i $packages[0].FullName /L*v $log
Write-Output "Verbose installer log: $log"

Search that log for Return value 3, 0x80070005, error 26421, CreateGroup, and StartServices. Confirm Get-LocalGroup goschedadmin works, your account appears in Get-LocalGroupMember goschedadmin, and Get-Service goschedd reports the service state. Error 26421 with 0x80070005 means group provisioning was denied; on a current installer, check local security policy or account-management restrictions and retain the log for support. The v0.9.0 installer had a known authoring defect that produced this combination even for local administrators; use a newer candidate or release.

Uninstall completed but data remains after a requested wipe. Check the protected cleanup report and summary registry key described under Uninstalling. A refused result means validation found an unsafe root and deleted nothing. A partial result names the declared owned root that Windows would not remove, commonly because a process still has a file open. Close the named application, retain the MSI log and cleanup report, and retry removal or clean only the reported application-owned path after checking that it is not a reparse point. Do not recursively remove a parent profile or shared Fyne directory.

SmartScreen or antivirus warning. The installer is currently unsigned. Verify the SHA-256 hash against SHA256SUMS.txt and choose More info → Run anyway if it matches.

The GUI opens but says “daemon unreachable”. Check the service with gosched service status. If it reports stopped, start it from an elevated shell with gosched service start. A current daemon authorizes a direct goschedadmin user by the stable user SID as well as by the group SID, so a first launch does not require permanent elevation or a sign-out solely to refresh group claims.

Current versions keep the application frame visible when the daemon connection fails. One connection panel replaces repeated error dialogs and always offers Retry and Exit. The panel distinguishes a missing or stopped daemon, a timeout, and an IPC authorization failure. Access denied means Windows rejected the current process token at the existing named pipe; it does not by itself mean the service is stopped.

For a first-install access denial, collect these four observations in a normal, non-elevated PowerShell window:

Get-Service goschedd | Select-Object Name, Status, StartType
Get-LocalGroup goschedadmin | Select-Object Name, SID
Get-LocalGroupMember goschedadmin | Select-Object Name, ObjectClass, PrincipalSource
whoami /groups | Select-String -Pattern 'goschedadmin|S-1-5-32|Group Name'

If the local group exists and your account appears in its membership but whoami /groups does not show the group’s SID, the daemon’s restricted pipe still includes the stable SID of every direct user member discovered when the service starts. Restart the service after a membership change, then choose Retry. A fresh sign-in remains useful for normal Windows group-token refresh, including nested-group membership, but is not required for the direct installing-user path. If the account is not listed in Get-LocalGroupMember, retain the installer log described above and ask an administrator to verify installation and local account policy. Do not weaken the pipe ACL or run the desktop application permanently elevated as a workaround.

The service reports an admin_group lookup error. Confirm the group exists with Get-LocalGroup goschedadmin and that your account appears in Get-LocalGroupMember goschedadmin. A foreground daemon can deliberately use the former broad local policy by passing --config <path> with {"admin_group":""} after stopping the service. That compatibility mode admits Authenticated Users and emits a startup warning; normal MSI service installs use the secure group default.

Where are the logs? C:\ProgramData\goschedule\logs\goschedule.log and its rotated siblings, or the Activity view in the app, or gosched logs.

A task fails on Windows. The daemon is a noninteractive LocalSystem service, so do not assume the interactive user’s profile, mapped drives, PATH additions, or current directory are available. In Command line, enter the executable followed by its arguments, quote an executable path that contains spaces, prefer an absolute path, and choose a working directory and output path accessible to the service. The editor shows the exact Program and Arguments in order and does not infer a shell; name cmd, PowerShell, or another shell explicitly when its features are required. A child that starts and exits nonzero retains its exit code and output. A child that cannot start has no exit code and reports process start failed for "<executable>" with the Windows error. Arguments, stdin, and environment values are omitted from that diagnostic because they may contain secrets.