A Windows server that runs your scheduled tasks around the clock
Your scripts keep running once your workstation is off: an always-on Windows machine in France, with the built-in Task Scheduler.
Starting at €8/mo
Introduction
A scheduled task only fires if the machine is switched on. That is the whole problem with a script living on a workstation: it runs while you are there, and not at night, not at the weekend, not during the holidays. A server for scheduled tasks settles the question in one sentence — a Windows machine that never powers down, with the Task Scheduler and PowerShell as the only tools you really need.
For this job, the entry plan is plenty. Windows - Core at €8/month incl. VAT — 4 vCores, 8 GB of RAM, 50 GB of SSD, 500 Mbps — already goes beyond what a nightly export or an hourly API call demands. We would rather write that down than push you towards something bigger: a job that runs for three minutes each night does not eat 16 or 32 GB. The server is delivered in 10 minutes, with its dedicated IPv4 address and the Administrator account.
What we deliver is the bare machine: the Windows system, full administrator access, the network, snapshots and human 24/7 support on the infrastructure. Your scripts, their schedule and their monitoring stay your job — we supply no application monitoring, no failure alerting and no monitoring agent. The Microsoft licence is likewise on you. The server runs in our single DC-FR_NA(01) datacenter in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
What the machine brings, and what it will not do for you
8 GB of RAM at €8/month, and that is enough
Windows - Core at €8/month incl. VAT: 4 vCores, 8 GB of RAM, 50 GB of SSD, 500 Mbps. A server that runs scripts spends most of its time doing nothing, then burns a few minutes of CPU when a trigger fires. There is no need to aim higher just in case. You move up one step — Plus at €13/month, 16 GB — only if you also install business software, a SQL Server database, or if your jobs handle very large files.
PowerShell 5.1 and 7.x, your call
PowerShell 5.1 ships with the operating system, nothing to install. PowerShell 7.x installs alongside it and both answer separately: powershell.exe on one side, pwsh.exe on the other. Inside a scheduled task you name the executable explicitly, which avoids nasty surprises between a script written for 7 and an environment still on 5.1. Batch files and any other interpreter you install yourself work exactly the same way.
A task that runs with no session open
In Task Scheduler, the "Run whether user is logged on or not" option starts the job without any RDP session being open: the account password is stored, the task fires on time, and the machine is powered on anyway. Things to plan on your side: absolute paths rather than mapped drives, no interactive dialog boxes, and a working directory set explicitly.
A snapshot before touching a live job
Trigger a snapshot from the client area, change the script or the schedule, and roll back if the following night goes badly. A full reinstall is also available on your own. To be clear: <strong>only snapshots are documented here</strong>, there is no automatic off-site backup. Keep your scripts in a versioned repository outside the server.
What people actually schedule on this kind of machine
The nightly export, ready before opening time
An extract launched at 3 a.m., a CSV file dropped in a folder, and the team finds it on arrival. Nobody had to leave a computer switched on at the office.
Ingesting the files you receive
A partner drops a file, a task picks it up every fifteen minutes, imports it and moves it to a "processed" folder. The trigger can be a schedule or a Windows event log entry.
The recurring report that sends itself
The script builds the Monday morning report and sends it through your own SMTP server or your mail provider's API. By-Hoster supplies no email sending service: the relay and the credentials remain yours.
Calling an API on the hour
Invoke-RestMethod every hour, a token refreshed, a response written to a file or a database. The included <strong>dedicated IPv4</strong> helps when the remote service filters calls by IP address.
Rotating and archiving logs
Compress the month's logs, purge whatever exceeds the retention you chose, copy the rest elsewhere. We are describing a technical routine: we certify no legal archiving value whatsoever.
The long job that survives disconnection
You start a multi-hour import over RDP, close your laptop, and the session stays on the server while the work carries on. You reconnect the next day to read the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
The entry plan is enough in most cases: Windows - Core at €8/month incl. VAT (4 vCores, 8 GB, 50 GB SSD, 500 Mbps). Above it: Plus at €13 (8 vCores, 16 GB, 200 GB), Max at €26 (16 vCores, 32 GB, 500 GB) and Titan at €49.99 (24 vCores, 64 GB, 800 GB, 1000 Mbps). Annual billing takes 10% off. The price covers the machine and the support; it does not include the Microsoft licence, nor any software beyond the operating system.
Start with Core at €8/month. A machine dedicated to automation waits most of the time, then spends a few minutes computing when a trigger fires: its 8 GB and 4 vCores cover that rhythm comfortably. Move to Plus (16 GB, €13/month) only if you also add business software, a SQL Server database or jobs that load very large files into memory — our published rule of thumb being 8 GB as soon as business software is involved.
Yes, that is the normal mode of the Windows Task Scheduler. You tick "Run whether user is logged on or not" and provide the password of the account used; the task starts on time with no RDP session open. Three precautions will save you from tasks that seem to "do nothing": use absolute paths rather than mapped drives, set the working directory, and remove every interactive dialog box from the script.
The Microsoft licence is on you. By-Hoster installs the operating system but neither supplies nor resells a licence — we say so before you order rather than after. Three systems are offered at no extra cost: Windows Server 2025 (security updates until 14 November 2034), Windows Server 2022 (security until 14 October 2031) and Windows 11, which remains a client system, not designed to host a multi-user service. Windows Server 2019 can no longer be installed.
No. Only the operating system is delivered, so PowerShell 5.1, which is part of it. PowerShell 7.x installs in a few minutes and coexists with 5.1: both binaries live side by side, powershell.exe and pwsh.exe. In a scheduled task, name the executable your script expects. The same applies to Python, Node.js or any other interpreter: nothing is preinstalled, you are administrator, you install what you want.
Windows already gives you plenty: the History tab in Task Scheduler, the Last Run Result column (0x0 when all is well) and the Microsoft-Windows-TaskScheduler/Operational log in Event Viewer. On the script side, a Start-Transcript at the beginning and an explicit exit code at the end are worth any amount of commentary. Many teams also drop a dated marker file, or have the script message them when it fails.
No, and it is better to know beforehand. The machine is delivered bare: no monitoring agent, no automatic alert, no application dashboard. If a script fails at 3 a.m., nobody on our side will see it. Our human 24/7 support (ticket, Discord, phone) covers the machine — operating system, network, RDP access, snapshots, reinstallation — not your jobs. Application monitoring is yours to build, on the server or from outside it.
The method the machine allows: trigger a snapshot from the client area, edit the script or its trigger, run the task once by hand to check the return code, then let one scheduled run go through. If the result is wrong, you roll back to the previous state. To be precise: only snapshots are documented, there is no automatic off-site backup. Keep your scripts in a versioned repository elsewhere.
Task Scheduler exports each task as an XML file and can import it on another machine: that is the simplest starting point. Three adjustments remain manual: recreate the run-as account and its password, replace mapped drives with UNC or local paths, and reinstall the modules your scripts depend on. We do not carry out that migration for you: you are the administrator of the machine.
Windows Server allows 2 concurrent administrative RDP sessions. For an automation server that is usually enough: one for you, one for a colleague or a contractor working at the same time. Beyond that, opening application RDP access to more users requires Microsoft RDS CAL licences that you buy yourself — we neither supply nor resell them. A fallback VNC console stays available should RDP become unreachable.
In our single DC-FR_NA(01) datacenter in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, operated directly by the association's technical team. Virtualisation runs on KVM with Proxmox. Your data stays under French jurisdiction, within the GDPR framework, with no transfer outside the European Union. By-Hoster is a French non-profit association (RNA W162005815, SIRET 92395660100010) founded in 2023. We claim no sector certification, and we would rather say so plainly.