While modern Windows versions support schtasks.exe /Change /Disable, Windows XP's SCHTASKS.EXE implementation lacks this crucial functionality. Here's how to work around this limitation.

The legacy AT command can disable tasks by modifying the registry:

REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tasks\{TaskID}" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

First identify your task's GUID from the registry or by dumping all tasks:

REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tasks" /s

For batch operations, use this PowerShell script:

$taskName = "MyScheduledTask"
$tasks = Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\Taskcache\Tasks"
foreach ($task in $tasks) {
    $path = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $task.PSPath -Name "Path").Path
    if ($path -match $taskName) {
        Set-ItemProperty -Path $task.PSPath -Name "Enabled" -Value 0
        Write-Host "Disabled task: $path"
    }
}

• Requires Administrator privileges
• Changes may require task scheduler service restart
• Backup registry before modification

While modern Windows versions support the /Disable flag with schtasks.exe, Windows XP's version (v1.0) lacks this functionality. The XP version only supports basic operations like /Create, /Delete, and /Run.

You can manipulate the Task Scheduler through Windows Script Host:

Set service = CreateObject("Schedule.Service")
Call service.Connect()
Set rootFolder = service.GetFolder("\\")
Set task = rootFolder.GetTask("MyTaskName")
task.Enabled = False

Scheduled tasks store their configuration in the registry. This PowerShell script works on XP:

$taskPath = "MyTaskName"
$regPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\$taskPath"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "Enabled" -Value 0

For legacy AT jobs (not recommended for new tasks):

at \\computername 1 /delete

For maintenance scripts, consider upgrading to PowerShell 2.0 (works on XP SP3):

Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskName "MyTaskName"