Restart or shut down remotely and document the reason

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To restart or shut down remotely and document the reason

Open Command Prompt.
Type:

shutdown /i to display the Remote Shutdown dialog box (Shutdown.exe).
Under Computers, click Add to enter computer names, or click Browse to open the Find Computers dialog box.
Under What do you want these computers to do, click Restart or Shut down.
If you did not anticipate restarting or shutting down the target computers at this time, clear the Planned check box.
Select the appropriate reason from the list.
If a comment is required, the OK button will not function until you type at least one character one in the text box.

Notes

To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt.
To perform this procedure, you must have the user rights to force a shutdown from a remote system. For a list of security groups that have this permission by default on computers running Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, see "Privileges" under Related Topics.
The Remote Shutdown dialog box can be displayed only by typing shutdown /i at the command prompt.
If the remote computer is functioning properly, but Shutdown.exe fails to restart it or shut it down, wait for two minutes before making a second attempt: Either the log on dialog box or the unexpected shutdown dialog box is open on the remote computer, causing an error.
Shutdown Event Tracker records data only for the Restart and Shutdown options.
If the System State Data feature is enabled and you specify an unplanned reason for the restart or shutdown, a file containing relevant system data will be created in the %windir%\system32\LogFiles\Shutdown\ directory. The System State Data feature is enabled by default on all Windows Server 2003 family operating systems.
For information on defining custom reasons, see "Best practices" under Related Topics.
The Warn users of the action check box is selected by default.

Value	Description
/s	Shuts down the computer.
/r	Restarts the computer after shutdown.
/m \\ComputerName	Specifies the target computer.
/t nnn	Sets the wait period before a restart or shutdown to nnn seconds, causing a warning to display on the local console. You can specify from 0 through 600 seconds. If you omit /t, the wait period defaults to 30 seconds.
/d[p:]xx:yy	Lists the reason for the system restart, shutdown, or power off. The following rows describe the parameter values.
p:	Indicates that the restart or shutdown is planned. If you do not use the p: option, Shutdown Event Tracker assumes that the restart or shutdown is unplanned.
xx	Specifies the major reason number (from 0 through 255).
yy	Specifies the minor reason number (from 0 through 65535).

Notes

To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt.
To perform this procedure, you must have the user rights to force a shutdown from a remote system. For a list of security groups that have this permission by default on computers running Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, see "Privileges" under Related Topics.
For the complete command line syntax, see "Shutdown" under Related Topics, below.
If the remote computer is functioning properly, but Shutdown.exe fails to restart it or shut it down, wait for 2 minutes before making a second attempt: Either the log on dialog box or the unexpected shutdown dialog box is open on the remote computer, causing an error.
If the System State Data feature is enabled and you specify an unplanned reason for the restart or shutdown, a file containing relevant system data will be created in the %windir%\system32\LogFiles\Shutdown\ directory. The System State Data feature is enabled by default on all Windows Server 2003 family operating systems.
For information on defining custom reasons, see "Best practices" under Related Topics.

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