Policy
Randomize scheduled task times
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016
This policy setting allows you to configure the randomization of the scheduled scan start time and the scheduled definition update start time. If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, and did not set a randomization window in the Configure scheduled task time randomization window setting , then randomization will be added between 0-4 hours. If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, and set a randomization window in the Configure scheduled task time randomization window setting, the configured randomization window will be used. If you disable this policy setting, but configured the scheduled task time randomization window, randomization will not be done.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Scope | Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender Value name RandomizeScheduleTaskTimes | REG_DWORD | HKLM 1 | HKLM 0 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
This policy has no additional user input fields.