Software to shut down PC's?

[sidewinder]

We have a huge problem here of teachers leaving entire rooms of PC's on overnight and over the weekend, as well as most of their teacher PC's

As well as it being a complete waste of energy, it heats the rooms up to sauna level come the morning, and it generally annoys me they're so lazy

If I remember I can turn off entire suites remotely, but Ive got to remember to do it which isnt possible all the time

I found this software - Sleepy - http://iconico.com/sleepy/ - which would do what I want, but even with the generous volume discounts, it would still come out at over £3000 for our 600 PC network

So im wondering if theres any cheaper (or free!) alternatives, or if any code wizards have knocked up any scripts/programs that can do it?

I know I could script it with something like PSShutdown but Im not sure how effective that is trying to switch off a large amount of computers

Any help appreciated

[webman]

PSShutdown will do exactly what you want, it will just take a while to get round a large batch of machines. But if it's scripted properly you shouldn't have any problems using PSShutdown. Can't harm anything by giving it a go, probably with some sort of logging so you can then tell how long it takes.

[danIT]

All 400 of our PC's are left on all day and all night!

simply use Run --> CMD --> shutdown /i

nice little gui lets you add all the computer names you want to shutdown, and off it goes! restart, shutodwn, logoff and nice little warning box to warn users if by any chance some one is logged on.

[Ric_]

You can also script the Windows 'shutdown' command to switch off machines remotely.

[plexer]

I have also used down.exe which can be run against remote machines.

Ben

[mark]

The specops free tool - a plugin to AD lets you right click on an OU - shut down the school/room/PC etc depending on your AD structure.

shutdown.exe /s /m \\%Computer Name%

Stick in a batch file with an entry for each PC and set a Scheduled Task on the server to run at the end of each day.

You can do similar to start them up in the morning to

[imullings]

Lan-view is exelent and does lots more than start up and shut down workstations.
It is free and produced by a school.
http://www.mst-software.co.uk/software/

Ian Mullings
Devizes School ICT Support

[Irazmus]

I use shutdown.exe /s /m \\%Computer Name% running from a scheduled VBScript which pulls computer names from AD.

Option Explicit
Dim objConnection, objCommand, objRecordSet
Dim strComputer, strSourceOU
Dim wshell
Dim ArrOUs, strOU

ArrOUs = Array("Room1","Room2","Room3","etc")

Set wshell = CreateObject("wscript.shell")

' Link to AD
Const ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE = 2
Set objConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Set objCommand = CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
objConnection.Provider = "ADsDSOObject"
objConnection.Open "Active Directory Provider"

Set objCommand.ActiveConnection = objConnection

For Each strOU in ArrOUs

' Select all Computer objects
objCommand.CommandText = "Select Name From 'LDAP://OU=" & strOU & ",OU=PCs,DC=example,DC=com' Where objectClass='computer'"
objCommand.Properties("Page Size") = 1000
objCommand.Properties("Timeout") = 30
objCommand.Properties("Searchscope") = ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE
objCommand.Properties("Cache Results") = False

Set objRecordSet = objCommand.Execute

objRecordSet.MoveFirst
Do Until objRecordSet.EOF

strComputer = objRecordSet.Fields("Name").Value

Wshell.Run "shutdown -s -m \\" & strComputer & " -t 60 -c ""Shutting down for updates"" -f"

objRecordSet.MoveNext

Loop

Next

[SimpleSi]

OT( a bit)
Would any of these solutions work on a peer-peer network or do they require domain server/AD?

regards

Simon

[woody]

AB tutor will cost you £150 and you can install the client on sa many PCs as you want. Will let you do more than shut down - also view/control/manage pcs.

http://www.abconsulting.com

[Sylv3r]

If you search on google you will be able to find a little program called Beyonexec for free that will do the job you are looking for also.

[Geoff]

Would any of these solutions work on a peer-peer network or do they require domain server/AD?

PSShutdown allows you to supply alternative logon credentials (eg, a local admin account) so that should certainly work in a peer to peer situation.

[NetworkGeezer]

PSShutdown allows you to supply alternative logon credentials (eg, a local admin account) so that should certainly work in a peer to peer situation.

But in clear text.


You might be OK P2P if the account names and passwords match up.

[Geoff]

ou might be OK P2P if the account names and passwords match up.

no because the account SSID's are different.