Shudown Software

[Stuart_C]

I'm looign for some software to shut the machines down at a certain time. However more specifically I want something that will shut the machine down after x minutes of inactivity but only between certain hours and bring the machine out of sleep to do it (if the machine has gone to sleep becuase of other power saving policies).

 

Any suggestions?

[6Foot2]

I believe that Impero can do this [we are getting it as part of a wider network update]

 

We are using Shutdownertron at the moment but that is not as popular as it was on XP because it does not message users about imminent shutdowns on Windows 7. This is not an issue for us as the scheduled shutdown is way after everyone has left school for the day.

[rickypike]

Yes Impero can do this, we just use on a schedule for all our ICT suites for both shutdown and wakeup but you also have the ability to do actions based on inactivity (idle). Just not sure about it bringing the machine out of sleep. Might be worth a check with Impero direct on that one, hope that helps!

[plexer]

PowerMAN

 

PowerMAN PC Power Management Software

 

Ben

[Michael]

You can do this by creating a GPP under Computer Config > Preferences > Control Panel Settings > Scheduled Tasks

 

Name: Shutdown Workstations

Run: %SystemRoot%\System32\Shutdown.exe

Arguments: -f -s -t 120

 

Run as: domain\username

 

Now click on the Schedule and Settings tabs in turn and enable the options you require.

[kili]

This is what we use works a treat.

[Stuart_C]

yes, I've looked at Impero as has our Dept Head and whilst we want it and yes it looks good, we can't justify spending the money on it at the minute as there are a number of other ICT projects that require funding. Hopefully at some point though.

 

I currently just use the standard windows shutdown from a scheduled task on the server. The main issues is over if people are using the PC when the shutdown command executes. Second I seem to actually need to run the command twice to get the PC's to shutdown if they are asleep. The first command wakes it up, the second shuts it down. This is doubly anoying for those people using the PC when it shutsdown. Hence I wondered what other options there were.

 

I looked at the shutdownatron but it was the lack of notifications to Win7 users that was the issue.

[rickypike]

Another bit of software you could look at is QLShtudown, I used to use this before we used Impero, and pretty sure that you can send notifications to users, might be worth a look, its also very cheap and dead easy to setup, when I purchased about a £60 for 1 install with unlimited clients.

[nobleguy]

Another vote for Data Synergy's PowerMAN. It worked a treat for us and has been considerably more straight forward and reliable than the various GP, GPP, script hacks we tried before. We tried several packages but eventually settled on this one because of the reporting and the support. The result was well worth it and it has now paid for itself many times over.

[lmgtfy]

We have impero but still use a simple task scheduler to shut them down as its easier to apply different settings to different areas via GPO. In the startup script it goes something like this

 

at /delete /yes

at 15:45 /interactive /every:M,T,W,Th,F \\dc\netlogon\shutdown.exe -i -l 1

 

with shutdown.exe being BeyondExec - Spawn Processes or Shutdown Remote Windows NT/2000/XP WorkStations which works with XP through to 7 and allows options like not shutting down if logged on etc and multiple schedules.