I have created a simple cron job under windows to run a very simple python scrape:
Cron job under Windows worked fine-without any probs. All of sudden, that cron job stopped working, my output file is not getting updated. When I run the scrape manually (double click on python file or via python IDE) I would typically get my debug output "everything ok" in a windows dialog window and the target file gets updated. During the cron job I can see that debug output window popping up and printing the same "everything ok" debug, but the file is just not getting updated.
I tried rebooting my machine, close/open all program. Created a new task in the scheduler, it still wouldn't work. Any suggestions?
Thanks Peter
After playing around with all potential settings in windows and many wasted hours I found a workaround.
My initial setup in the task manager was calling the python.exe and my python.py file was passed as an argument. Just as described here: http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2013/07/30/scheduling-a-scrip/. The difference at the end that made my cron job work again was that I deleted passing the python file as an argument and now calling python file directly. Not sure why the initial setup stopped working - but this has helped. Hope you don't get into the same time wasting situation.