Software to shut down PC's?

[apeo]

@eean: Nice.. gonna have a look at it thanks.

 

@ajbritton: Might i make a suggestion, maybe it would be better to use a script to remotely set schedules rather than have it run as a login script ie use schtasks with /s to remotely set schedules or change it. You can set schedules on the fly then if needed.

[_Bat_]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i've been working on getting all of our client machines to shut down at 7:30pm.

 

I downloaded Beyondexec as it doesn't have some of the problems that the standard shutdown.exe has. I can get the entire network to shut down successfully within about two minutes (probably less) but yesterday I found a couple of machines were in standby mode, therefore they would not shut down when asked.

 

I'm not entirely sure why they were in standby mode in the first place... does windows 2000 automatically do this after a certain amount of idle time if there isn't a user logged in? If it does, is there any way to stop it doing so?

[DHCP]

Try this:

 

http://www.n37dev.com/Products/LanTool/

 

It allows you to see how long machines have been on for and allows you to shut down remotely and send messages as well as other useful stuff and it's free. The only downside is that you have to install it as a client process on each machine. If you could find a way to deploy it from a server that would really make life easier.

[_Bat_]

Try this:

 

http://www.n37dev.com/Products/LanTool/

 

It allows you to see how long machines have been on for and allows you to shut down remotely and send messages as well as other useful stuff and it's free. The only downside is that you have to install it as a client process on each machine. If you could find a way to deploy it from a server that would really make life easier.

 

That does look very useful DHCP, i'll make a mental note of that software. But with my current task i'm not sure it really helps.

 

I have the software I need to do it that can be run as a batch script straight from the server (which is perfect). It doesn't even require any credentials, so no clear text passwords.

 

I have currently got a machine in testing to see whether it will eventually go into standby mode or whether I am in the clear. I was just wondering if anyone knew what win2k was set to do by default when there is no user logged on.

[tarquel]

I use a batch script on the DC that runs scheduled and logs to a logfile by date

 

Its just using psshutdown but restarts the computers, not shut them down.

 

I have seperate scripts [shutdown & reboot] that you just add the target computername i.e.

 

scriptname MYPC0101

 

Let me know if ya need any of them.

 

Cheers

Nath

[timbo343]

we use something called emco remote shut down downloaded free off the net

[timbo343]

this lantool remote shutdown.. does it need to be installed on ALL machines?

[Guest richard]

I've been using a simple batch file run off the server as a scheduled task but sometimes I find that a machine hasn't shutdown for some reason. I have posted the code below if anyone has any ideas.

 

shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-01
shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-02
shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-03

 

The whole thing has some 35 lines in it. One for each pc. The seems to be no pattern as to which pc's stay on. Sometimes they all shutdown, sometimes 1 or 2 stay on and its begging to bug me.

[tarquel]

I dont get that with psshutdown and the same method i.e. script

 

The only time it doesnt shut them down is if the logoff of a user has stuck...

 

At least, I dont know of any times when it hasnt shutdown / restarted.

 

Cheers

Nath.

[DHCP]

this lantool remote shutdown.. does it need to be installed on ALL machines?

 

The client program needs to be installed yes so that you can interact with it as the administrator.

[MkII]

we use something called emco remote shut down downloaded free off the net

 

Doesn't seem to be free

[k-strider]

There’s been plenty of suggestions already we use

 

A free program called poweroff.exe (google it its at the top)

 

Then we use start-up scripts to install it as a service

 

@echo off

 

REM test to see if installed already!!

IF Exist %systemRoot%\poweroff.exe Goto end

 

:copy

copy \\ourdomain\sysvol\ourdomian\Policies\{5370A990-AEE9-473F-921B-2309D1C7393D}\Machine\Scripts\Startup\poweroff.exe %systemRoot%

 

@%systemroot%\poweroff -create_service -notray -allow_remote -remote_pswd

echo copy

 

:end

 

One of our servers then runs a batchfile every night at a set time with basically a list of all the pcs in…

 

poweroff poweroff -remote room0101 -force -password -quiet

 

 

I just made sure that the start-up script had a deny on the Pupil group (in security) so they couldn’t work out the password and shut down systems…

 

We actually like the staff to leave the PCs on at night cause the Windows update happens about 5/6 and they then shutdown after that!!

[djm968]

I've been using a simple batch file run off the server as a scheduled task but sometimes I find that a machine hasn't shutdown for some reason. I have posted the code below if anyone has any ideas.

 

shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-01
shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-02
shutdown.exe /s /m \\PC-03

 

The whole thing has some 35 lines in it. One for each pc. The seems to be no pattern as to which pc's stay on. Sometimes they all shutdown, sometimes 1 or 2 stay on and its begging to bug me.

 

Hi Richard you can do this with one line of code

 

for /f "Tokens=1,2 Delims=," %%a in (shutdown.csv) do (shutdown.exe -s -m \\%%a)

 

and a csv file

 

T11-210L-01

T11-210L-02

T11-210L-03

T11-210L-04

T11-210L-05

T11-210L-06

T11-210L-07

 

Put one machine on each line in the text file and save it in the same location you run the batch file from.

 

I usually export the machine names from Active Directory and you can also just add any new machines to the csv file.

[djm968]

Forgot to add you may need to add the -f switch to force applications to close if PC's don't shut down.

[MkII]

There’s been plenty of suggestions already we use

 

A free program called poweroff.exe (google it its at the top)

 

Then we use start-up scripts to install it as a service

 

@echo off

 

REM test to see if installed already!!

IF Exist %systemRoot%\poweroff.exe Goto end

 

:copy

copy \\ourdomain\sysvol\ourdomian\Policies\{5370A990-AEE9-473F-921B-2309D1C7393D}\Machine\Scripts\Startup\poweroff.exe %systemRoot%

 

@%systemroot%\poweroff -create_service -notray -allow_remote -remote_pswd

echo copy

 

:end

 

One of our servers then runs a batchfile every night at a set time with basically a list of all the pcs in…

 

poweroff poweroff -remote room0101 -force -password -quiet

 

 

I just made sure that the start-up script had a deny on the Pupil group (in security) so they couldn’t work out the password and shut down systems…

 

We actually like the staff to leave the PCs on at night cause the Windows update happens about 5/6 and they then shutdown after that!!

 

I use poweroff strider but just run it from the server as is - no local installation necessary

[eean]

I found a couple of machines were in standby mode, therefore they would not shut down when asked.

 

I had the same problem. See my post above and attached there is a MSI file. It installs a windows task to run psshutdown. The windows task wakes the computer up to run. It's currently set to 6pm (so long as the computer hasn't been used for the past 15 minutes). To change it you'll need to install it, change the time on the task in task scheduler then update the file in the msi, using any msi editor.

[Grommit]

seems my thread to start up the PC's has been locked and dumped into how to shut down PC's..

 

Is there a script or something that I can make to start up a set of PC's ?

[Geoff]

Do they support wake on lan?

[Netman]

wol.exe will - just create a batch file using the mac addresses - http://www.gammadyne.com/cmdline.htm#wol or the previously mentioned poweroff.exe http://users.pandora.be/jbosman/applications.html will also...

[Grommit]

Do they support wake on lan?

 

Ja..... 1 gig Dells

[Geoff]

Netman's suggestion(s) will work fine then. Just ensure the machines don't get turned off at the breaker switch/power socket.

[_Bat_]

I found a couple of machines were in standby mode, therefore they would not shut down when asked.

 

I had the same problem. See my post above and attached there is a MSI file. It installs a windows task to run psshutdown. The windows task wakes the computer up to run. It's currently set to 6pm (so long as the computer hasn't been used for the past 15 minutes). To change it you'll need to install it, change the time on the task in task scheduler then update the file in the msi, using any msi editor.

 

Thanks eean. I will actually have a look at this as it seems like a very good method. The only reason I didn't before is that I know nothing about MSIs... I have only been working in IT since march after coming out of college and i'm still learning . My network manager literally told me they are used for deploying software over the network, but I have no idea how or how to edit them. Are there any tutorials anyone knows of that I can follow?

[Geoff]

MAKEMSI has an expansive help file on the subject.

 

http://users.cyberone.com.au/dbareis/makemsi.htm

[_Bat_]

Okay, tried eean's way but failed miserably. I just can't understand MSI's very well .

 

Okay, so back to stage one. I am determined to do this one way or another.

 

It's just this stupid standby issue... the script I made works 100% perfectly (I was impressed with how flexible and smooth it was) APART from when the computer is in standby. Why can't microsoft make a setting that does what it says, no more, no less? No matter what I do the computers still manage to end up in standby

 

I cannot get wake on lan to work, no matter what I do. I don't even need these 'magic packets' because I don't really want the computers going into standby at all, so I don't care if they wake up randomly. I keep reading on the net that I might have to make a hardware adjustment to the NICs...

[eean]

If you like, I'll see if I can make you a new msi, just tell me:

What time do you want the computer to switch off?

What message would you like it to display?

How long would you like the message for display for?

Do you want a cancel option?

How long would you like the computer to have been idle for before initiating the shutdown message? (mine waits 15 minutes before popping the message up)