Auto Shutdown Windows 7 or Vista
I'm hoping someone might be able to help with this. I'm trying to set up an auto shutdown of a room full of computers at a specifed time of day. Here's the setup. I help manage a few different labs of computers, about 150 in all. We run in an AD domain. We're a Vista house at the moment but we'll be upgrading to 7 soon. Each lab is set up to automatically boot in the morning. Our lab closes at 10 and I'd like to be able to have the labs essentially close themselves. I've tried setting up a scheduled task to do this, the problem is it doesn't run when the computer is logged out. Which, annoying students not withstanding, every computer will be when I need the lab to shut down. I'd like to be able to get a local policy running but I'm still new to working with computers in a domain. Going with a 3rd party app is not a possibility. Can anyone help?
July 15th, 2010 2:36am

if you are using shutdown.exe /m \\targetcomputer it is probably the way your task is configured. You can try to set the task to "run whether user is logged on or not".
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July 15th, 2010 12:48pm

Hi, Could you specify the steps you set up a scheduled task? Or did you create a script? For more information on Task Security Context, visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722152.aspx Good Luck.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
July 16th, 2010 2:10pm

Defcon, thank you. As simple as it was I'd completely missed the checkbox for "run whether user is logged on or not". The system now will shut itself down without an issue regardless of being logged in or not. However now I'm running in to another issue. So that the students or teachers don't hunt me down, I'm trying to set up a warning message that'll pop up before the system shuts down so that they have more than a minute to save their work. I've set it up in the same manner as the shutdown task, only instead of running the program it's set to display a message. The problem is, the message never displays. I've checked the history log in the task scheduler and it says the task completed. Below I'm outlining the steps I used to create the message. <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in; mso-add-space:auto; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:469632769; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-768995474 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> 1. Open Task Scheduler 2. Click on “Create Task” a. General Tab i. Name the task ii. Click on "run whether user is logged on or not". iii. Click on “Run with highest privileges”. b. Trigger Tab i. Fill in schedule. Weekly at a specific day and time in this case ii. Under advanced settings, leave everything unchecked except “Enabled” c. Actions Tab i. Action: Display a message ii. Fill in Message Title and content d. Conditions Tab i. Everything unchecked except “Wake the computer to run this task” e. Settings Tab i. Checked “Allow task to run on demand” ii. Checked “If the running task does not stop when requested, force it to stop” 3. Put in admin password for the system 4. Wait, and nothing happens Any ideas? Thanks
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July 20th, 2010 3:02am

Hi, To avoid confusion and attract more attentions, it is suggested to create a new thread with more specific title. Your understanding is appriciated. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
July 20th, 2010 12:57pm

use the /t parameter to set suhutdown time and a warning message will be generated automatically.
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July 20th, 2010 1:05pm

The shutdown process already generates a warning message, the problem is its a "shutting down in less than a minute" message. I'm attempting to create a series of "you have 10 min till shutdown", "you have 5 min till shutdown", etc.. so that I can avoid users running in to problems where they dont have time to save their work. Hence the attempt to use the task scheduler to create the messages. I'm going to be making a new thread for this topic but I wanted to reply to your message Defcon. Thanks for the help!
July 20th, 2010 11:55pm

Unless I misunderstood, before you go try: shutdown /s /t 1000 or whatever time you specify Use the /c switch for a comment.
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July 21st, 2010 12:14am

Defcon, That actually does work quite well. The issue is I'd like to send a couple messages. This way I can cover my butt. The problem is Task Scheduler isn't letting me create a task of just sending out a message. Which, unless I'm misunderstanding the idea, it should be able to do.
July 22nd, 2010 2:51am

Hi, I wish anyone could offer a free software to do this, Which can auto Shutdown, Restart Windows 7 or Vista, I think the scheduled task is to Complicated for us! PS: This one works Windows 7 Shutdown Assistant http://www.apowersoft.com/windows7-shutdown.html
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August 14th, 2010 6:25am

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