Is there a way to automatically log off a user after they have been inactive for awhile? Issue I am having is people are forgetting to log off the domain and then somone tries to log in and the computer is locked. I am running server 2003 with xp clients.

Hi bdelisayou can using Group Policy through logoff user on your domain Click -> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools > local securitu policy > local policies \ security options \ "Automatically log off users" Window server 2003 use shutdown.exe logoff the client machineswitch -l (to log off), -s (to shut down), or -r (to reboot). (-txx time delay)Ex:- shutdown /s -l \\computernameThanks... Deva --Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Hi deva_1002, AFAIK the policy Amount of idle time required before disconnecting session is specific to the SMB session timeout , this might be due to an applicaiton which uses namepipe and is inactive for a long duration or it might be for a driver which is not accepting any data for a long time. And the SMB session would be SMB_COM_SESSION_SETUP_ANDX, so my question is does this policy invokes SMB_com_logoff_ANDX ?sainath !analyze

Hi,i can suggest two things regarding to your requirement.1) To logoff the user after a certain period of inactivity, you may use the Winexit screensaver which comes with Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools (free). Download Windows 2003 Resource Kit Tools from here. It contains the file Winexit.scr [Windows Exit Screen Saver]. Once installed, reboot the system. Open C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools Right-click winexit.scr and choose Install The Display Properties dialog box appears with the Screen Saver tab active The Logoff Screen Saver entry is automatically selected Click Settings Select the Force application termination check box to force programs to quit In the Countdown for n seconds box, type the value accordingly In the Logoff Message box, type the message that appears during the logoff countdown. Click OK. In the Display Properties dialog box, click Preview. You see the Auto Logoff dialog box. It displays the logoff message and the countdown timer. Click Cancel. Click OK. The Force application termination option forces programs to quit even if the programs contain unsaved data. If you do not use this option, programs that contain unsaved data do not quit and the user is not logged off. or 2) You could create a GPO that sets the Power Management on the workstation so that it powers it off after a certain time of inactivity. So first power down the monitor and then the hard disks and then system shutdown.Regards,Mahi

Hi, As Mahi suggested, winexit.scr is a tool to automatically log off users. You can create a OU contains the computer which should log off automatically after a period of inactivity, and then deploy the winexit.scr to this OU. For more information, please refer to the following articles: How To Force Users to Quit Programs and Log Off After a Period of Inactivity in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314999 Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9D467A69-57FF-4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en Thanks, Bruce

any update on this case?Deva --Self-trust is the first secret of success.

You can also use psshutdown using the logoff and accepteula switches to run as a scheduled task using system and execute on idle of nn minutes. Problem I have is that it only works on on xp and 2003.Has anyone found a solution that works on 2008 Server?

You can give a loook to UserLock, a 3rd-party software solution, that can (among numerous other features) close sessions after a certain period of inactivity (and also logoff a session locked for longer than a specified time length).Franois Amigorena President & CEO IS Decisions (Security Software) http://www.isdecisions.com