Running a Jenkins agent on a windows build machine can be unstable at restart or lack needed rights. In some cases you require a console session for interaction with policy restricted hardware. Or, the service wrapper limits JVM rights in a way that prevents compilers or test suites from running.
In these cases, PowerShell scheduled jobs module has a useful AtStartup trigger property as well as a RunElevated job option.
Tips:
- Add ‘-noCertificateCheck’ java argument if you use a jenkins job to bootstrap agent chain of trust.
- Change pipeline and java log to path or file name of your choice.
- I have seen long windows update restarts interfere with the AtStartup trigger. Adding a contingency trigger will help in this case.
- *“kick the can” and move the shared secret to a “secure” variable, file, or registry key. Please leave feedback if you have a better solution.