Task Scheduler returns a "HRESULT: 0x8007007A" error message after you save many jobs

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This article was previously published under Q264522

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to schedule a job with user credentials so that the task runs as if it were started by the user, you may receive the following error message:

The new task has been created, but may not run because the account information could not be set. The specific error is:
0x8007007a: The data area passed to a system call is too small.

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This behavior occurs because the buffer that stores the account information for all scheduled tasks is limited; the buffer puts a limit on the number of jobs that you can schedule with user credentials. There is no limit on the number of jobs that you can create without user credentials.

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RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, stop and start the task scheduler service, wait for 10 to 15 minutes, and then schedule jobs.

There is a scavenger tool in task scheduler that runs 10 minutes after the service is started. This tool frees the memory that is still being used by deleted or scheduled jobs.

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