Free Shutdown utility to run as a service

[oliphanj]

What are some recommendations for a Free shutdown utility that works with Windows 7/8 that you can configure to run as a service?

 

Thanks,

Jason

[jamesreedersmith]

Scheduled job via GP?

[Marshall_IT]

Do you need something with a cancel option? Otherwise what James said.

[XiJ]

On my home media server I use iShutdown. (With iOS App)

 

But the GP as above sounds a better bet for a lot of clients.

[Norphy]

We're using TaskForce CO2 to shutdown our PCs at the moment. The user can postpone the shutdown and it won't shut the PC down if its idle.

 

It's OK. Ish. But it was very cheap.

[oliphanj]

Do you need something with a cancel option? Otherwise what James said.

 

Yes, I need the cancel option. I have used the Poweroff program that has been around since 2000 but with Windows 7 it does not display the shutdown/cancel option so I am looking for something new.

Thanks,

Jason

[Marshall_IT]

Hi Jason, i looked for a kind time and was unable to find a decent free program. That's not to say one doesn't exist, but you might end up paying a little for one.

[mdench]

If you use FOG Project you could use it for imaging but it also has a shutdown feature in it. Where you can set a time for the PCs to shutdown e.g 4pm. If a user is still logged in it won't shutdown the pc until after they log off.

[oliphanj]

If you use FOG Project you could use it for imaging but it also has a shutdown feature in it. Where you can set a time for the PCs to shutdown e.g 4pm. If a user is still logged in it won't shutdown the pc until after they log off.

 

FOG looks pretty interesting. We use ConfigMgr here. Can you strip out the shutdown feature so it is super simple and small footprint?

[Davit2005]

Shutdownertron, I know it works with Win7 but don't know about Win8

[mdench]

Afraid not you will need to install FOG onto a server then install the client onto your pcs.

[oliphanj]

Bummer.

 

Just looking at SmartPower. It looks interesting if it were free for education. I don't think I would need a cancel button since it detects inactivity.

[jonawd]

I used to use EMCO Software's Remote Shutdown.

 

It isn't free, but was very customisable.

It sticks an agent on the client machines and then you can set a schedule to process shut downs for different sets of computers at different times etc.

I used to shut down all the labs at different times as there were other scripts running at shut down, which meant shutting everything down at once was putting lots of stress on some of my other servers.

 

Only downside I found was that the computer running the Sofware (server side) always had to be logged in with the software open. If the machine logged out, or I forgot to open the software after a reboot I didn't work.

[FN-GM]

Shutdownertron, I know it works with Win7 but don't know about Win8

 

It does not display the cancel etc with Windows 7. This is a requirement for this user.

[oliphanj]

I think I am going to go with this solution.

Windows 7 – Shutdown message with countdown and cancel | IT Support Guides

Then set it up as a scheduled task with group policy.

Windows 7 – Run Scheduled Task Interactively | IT Support Guides

 

Thanks,

Jason

[MordyT]

I think I am going to go with this solution.

Windows 7 – Shutdown message with countdown and cancel | IT Support Guides

Then set it up as a scheduled task with group policy.

Windows 7 – Run Scheduled Task Interactively | IT Support Guides

 

Thanks,

Jason

The interactive post is overly complicated. You can run the program without psexec using almost the exact same instructions...

[Norphy]

I used to use EMCO Software's Remote Shutdown.

 

It isn't free, but was very customisable.

It sticks an agent on the client machines and then you can set a schedule to process shut downs for different sets of computers at different times etc.

I used to shut down all the labs at different times as there were other scripts running at shut down, which meant shutting everything down at once was putting lots of stress on some of my other servers.

 

Only downside I found was that the computer running the Sofware (server side) always had to be logged in with the software open. If the machine logged out, or I forgot to open the software after a reboot I didn't work.

 

I just found out that our TaskForce CO2 license had expired so I went out looking for alternatives. This is the best that I've seen in a long (long) time so I bought a copy. Just over £200 for a site license, not bad!

[disk]

While it looks like you already have a solution in mind, I was going to recommend this:

 

PsShutdown

 

Not sure if it can be configured to run as a service, but it is quite handy in our environment.