SQL Server 2012 Job History Missing I have a SQL Server 2012 database with a number of Agent jobs.  The jobs run without a problem but the job history is always empty.  Why?

I also note that running a job manually (right click and "Start Job at Step...") will run the job but the window showing progress of the job never closes.  It is as if the job steps complete but the job itself never completes.

All tasks have been executed as a sysadmin so permissions should not be an issue.

Running the jobs via sp_start_job results in the jobs completing but still no job history.

I've done all the usual checking/changing of jobhistory_max_rows_per_job etc.
While this only addresses a small part of your question (and you may already be aware):

When you right-click on a job and choose "Start Job at step...", the window that opens does not close automatically when the job is finished. You have to manually close the window (which can be done before or after the job completes).

Once the "Execute job" line in the window has a status (whether success or error), there should (normally) be an entry in sysjobhistory, even if the window hasn't closed (just confirmed in my system).