CRON executes CRONTABS only when run from terminal as "/usr/sbin/cron &"

[Stephen Carrier]

On Sun, Nov 15, 2020 at 02:03:28PM -0700, Keith Christian via Cygwin wrote:
> Cygwin people,
> 
> Running with this version of Cygwin.
> CYGWIN_NT-10.0 DESKTOP-ASERVER 3.1.7(0.340/5/3) 2020-08-22 17:48 x86_64 Cygwin
> 
> Windows info:
> $ /lib/csih/winProductName.exeMicrosoft Windows 10 Professional,
> 64-bit (build 18363)
> 
> I installed using cron-config, and created the cyg_server user.cron
> starts OK, but does not appear to execute the crontabs.
> No messages or errors  in /var/log/cron.log.
> 
> $ cygrunsrv -Q cron
> Service             : cron
> Display name        : Cron daemon
> Current State       : Running
> Controls Accepted   : Stop
> Command             : /usr/sbin/cron -n

What's the output of "cygrunsrv -V -Q cron"?

What are the file permissions on /var/log/cron.log? ("ls -l
/var/log/cron.log").  The uid running cron needs write permission there.

I run cron from the Local System account, which can setuid to other users.
I don't know the circumstances where one should still use a non-SYSTEM
account with Windows 10, but they aren't mine and I recommend running
as SYSTEM if possible.

Stephen