In a terminal window, run cron with no timeout just to clear any old tasks: php admin/cli/cron.php -k=0 In the first run the cron runner with no args to get a cron runner with a three-minute sleep 60; php admin/cli/cron.php Let it run Confirm that you can find the mod_forum\task\cron_task scheduled task Let the task sit there for a further 120 seconds from when that task ran Confirm that the same forum task ran again at some point in that 120 seconds When the script ends, immediately re-run it Confirm that the forum task runs once per minute