Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi everyone,

I'm facing an issue with triggering a Power Automate Desktop (PAD) flow automatically and would appreciate any guidance.

My Requirement

I have a desktop flow that performs an automated backup process. I want this flow to run automatically every day (or based on a trigger) without requiring manual intervention.

What I've Tried

1. Windows Task Scheduler

Created a scheduled task to run the PAD flow.
Created a desktop shortcut to the flow and configured Task Scheduler to execute it.
The task is created successfully, but it doesn't launch or execute the desktop flow as expected.
The task history shows Last Run Result: 0x80070005.

2. Power Automate Desktop Triggers

I was looking for built-in triggers (like cloud flows have), but I couldn't find options such as:
- Email received
- File created
- Scheduled trigger
As far as I understand, these triggers are available only in cloud flows, not directly in PAD.

3. Running the Flow Manually

The desktop flow itself runs correctly when I execute it manually from Power Automate Desktop.
The issue is only with automatically starting the flow.

My Environment

Windows 11
Latest version of Power Automate Desktop
Desktop flow runs successfully when started manually
I do not have unattended RPA licensing

What I'm Looking For

What is the recommended way to automatically trigger a Power Automate Desktop flow?
Is Windows Task Scheduler the correct approach, or is there a better alternative?
Has anyone encountered the 0x80070005 error when launching PAD through Task Scheduler?
Is there any supported method to schedule or trigger PAD flows locally without requiring cloud flows or unattended RPA?

Any suggestions, best practices, or working examples would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!