WinXP and 2K Pro Auto Shutdown 1

[gwigton]

Hello All,
We have aproximately 150 pcs in public computer labs that currently use PowerToys to automatically login to our default user account. This is going to change shortly. We will be requiring everyone to login to each machine with their own account. Currently I am using a shutdown utility combined with the scheduled tasks to perform a system shut-down each evening. With the changes to the login, we now have to figure out a way to shut these machines down in both the following situations:

1). The person using the machine last, forgot to logout.

2). The machine is sitting at the domain login screen.

Keep in mind that after the machines are first installed, we use DeepFreeze to lock the machines down. If a user logs in and creates a profile, it will only be there for as long as the machine doesn't re-boot.

Any suggestions would be great!

 

[ato]

You can try to use power option in control panel.

 

[gwigton]

ato, the only problem I see with that solution is that if I set the machine to shutdown after say 2 hrs of no activity, then I may have machines that shutdown during the day, and I would prefer to keep them all on until after the day is over. On the other side of the coin, if I set them to shutdown after say 8 hrs of no activity. The machines would likely be on all night. Which defeats what I am trying to do.

Is there anything from server-side I could do?

 

[vanvb]

I would look at using one of the many shutdown.exe command line tools available and write a batch file to make it run automatically to shut down all of your computers. Here is a link to a microsoft article about their shutdown.exe tool:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=317371

There are also other versions out there that can easily be found by searching the net. Most of them would work well with a command line interface through a batch file.

Hope that helps!

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

http://www.losoft.de/

Use the Down.exe from this comapny, it's free. I have been using it for 2 years. It works great. You copy the 2 files to the /system32 folder on all machines and the you can set up a simple batch to remotely power down, among other things, with switches.

Cliff, CCNA/MCSE/MCSA 2000
Network Administrator

 

[gwigton]

vanvb and Techy69, great suggestions. I will try both of these on Monday to see which is a more efficent way. If I don't see any problems, it's stars all around. Have a great weekend!

 

[gwigton]

Techy69, worked like a charm!