Symptoms

When you scan a Windows machine that is running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or older you may see various scan errors including

The agent failed to scan the section 'Scheduled Tasks'. Could not contact the scheduled tasks system on 'machine name'.


Cause

This issue can occur when using an up-level operating system such as Windows Server 2012 R2 or newer where SMB v1 has been disabled.


More Information

Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and older operating systems only support SMB v1, an insecure version of the protocol. In newer Microsoft Windows operating systems this version of SMB is being disabled by default.


If you attempt to access the Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 machine using a UNC path you may see the following error.




Resolution

Ensure that the SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support feature is installed.

WARNING: Enabling this feature reduces the security of the system and should only be performed if necessary.