How do I shutdown restart or log off Windows via a bat file

Question

I ve been using Remote Desktop Connection to get into a workstation  But in this environment  I cannot use the power options in Start Menu  I need an alternative way to shutdown or restart   How do I control my computer s power state through the command line

User · Answer

I m late to the party  but did not see this answer yet  When you don t want to use a batch file or type the command  You can just set focus to the desktop and then use Alt   F4   Windows will ask you what you want to do  select shutdown or restart   For screenshots and even a video  see  https   tinkertry com how-to-shutdown-or-restart-windows-over-rdp

User · Answer

Original answer  Oct  2008  You also got all the  rundll32 exe shell32 dll  serie    see update below    rundll32 exe user exe   ExitWindows    Fast Shutdown of Windows  rundll32 exe user exe   ExitWindowsExec    Restart Windows   rundll32 exe shell32 dll SHExitWindowsEx n    where n stands for    0 - LOGOFF 1 - SHUTDOWN 2 - REBOOT 4 - FORCE 8 - POWEROFF    can be combined -  6   2 4 FORCE REBOOT     Update April 2015  6  years later    1800 INFORMATION kindly points out in the comments      Don t use rundll32 exe for this purpose  It expects that the function you passed on the command line has a very specific method signature - it doesn t match the method signature of ExitWindows     Raymond CHEN wrote    in 2004  What can go wrong when you mismatch the calling convention         The function signature required for functions called by rundll32 exe is    void CALLBACK ExitWindowsEx HWND hwnd  HINSTANCE hinst         LPSTR pszCmdLine  int nCmdShow        That hasn t stopped people from using rundll32 to call random functions that weren t designed to be called by rundll32  like user32 LockWorkStation or user32 ExitWindowsEx     oops      The actual function signature for ExitWindowsEx is    BOOL WINAPI ExitWindowsEx UINT uFlags  DWORD dwReserved      in 2011   Throwing garbage on the sidewalk  The sad history of the rundll32 program    And to make it crystal-clear    in 2013  What s the guidance on when to use rundll32  Easy  Don t use it        Rundll32 is a leftover from Windows 95  and it has been deprecated since at least Windows Vista because it violates a lot of modern engineering guidelines

User · Answer

When remoted into a machine  target is Windows nbsp XP anyway  I am not sure about target Windows nbsp Vista   although Shutdown on the start menu is replaced by Disconnect Session or something like that  there should be one called  Windows Security  which also does the same thing as Ctrl   Alt   End as pointed to by Owen

User · Answer

I would write this in Notepad or WordPad for a basic logoff command    echo off shutdown -l   This is basically the same as clicking start and logoff manually  but it is just slightly faster if you have the batch file ready

User · Answer

No one has mentioned -m option for remote shutdown   shutdown -r -f -m   machinename   Also    The -r parameter causes a reboot  which is usually what you want on a remote machine  since physically starting it might be difficult   The -f parameter option forces the reboot  You must have appropriate privileges to shut down the remote machine  of course

User · Answer

Some additions to the shutdown and rundll32 exe shell32 dll SHExitWindowsEx n commands  LOGOFF - allows you to logoff user by sessionid or session name PSShutdown - requires a download from windows sysinternals  bootim exe - windows 10 8 shutdown iu change chglogon - prevents new users to login or take another session NET SESSION  DELETE - ends a session for user wusa   forcerestart  quiet  - windows update manager but also can restart the machine tsdiscon - disconnects you rdpinit - logs you out   though I cant find any documentation at the moment

User · Answer

No one has mentioned -m option for remote shutdown   shutdown -r -f -m   machinename   Also    The -r parameter causes a reboot  which is usually what you want on a remote machine  since physically starting it might be difficult   The -f parameter option forces the reboot  You must have appropriate privileges to shut down the remote machine  of course

User · Answer

Another small tip  when going the batch file route  I like to be able to abort it in case I run it accidentally  So the batch file invokes the shutdown but leaves you at the command prompt afterwards    echo off echo Shutting down in 10 seconds  Please type  shutdown  a  to abort  cmd exe  K shutdown  f  t 10  r   Plus  since it s on a timer  you get about the same thrill as you do when hunting in The Oregon Trail

User · Answer

The most common ways to use the shutdown command are    shutdown -s     Shuts down  shutdown -r     Restarts  shutdown -l     Logs off  shutdown -h     Hibernates   Note  There is a common pitfall wherein users think -h means  help   which it does for every other command-line program    except shutdown exe  where it means  hibernate    They then run shutdown -h and accidentally turn off their computers  Watch out for that  shutdown -i      Interactive mode   Instead of performing an action  it displays a GUI dialog  shutdown -a     Aborts a previous shutdown command    The commands above can be combined with these additional options    -f     Forces programs to exit  Prevents the shutdown process from getting stuck  -t  lt seconds gt      Sets the time until shutdown  Use -t 0 to shutdown immediately  -c  lt message gt      Adds a shutdown message  The message will end up in the Event Log  -y     Forces a  yes  answer to all shutdown queries   Note  This option is not documented in any official documentation  It was discovered by these StackOverflow users      I want to make sure some other really good answers are also mentioned along with this one  Here they are in no particular order    The -f option from JosephStyons Using rundll32 from VonC The Run box  from Dean Remote shutdown from Kip

User · Answer

You re probably aware of this  but just in case  it s much easier to just type shutdown -r  or whatever command you like  into the  Run  box and hit enter   Saves leaving batch files lying around everywhere

User · Answer

If you are on a remote machine  you may also want to add the -f option to force the reboot   Otherwise your session may close and a stubborn app can hang the system   I use this whenever I want to force an immediate reboot   shutdown -t 0 -r -f   For a more friendly  give them some time  option  you can use this   shutdown -t 30 -r   As you can see in the comments  the -f is implied by the timeout   Brutus 2006 is a utility that provides a GUI for these options

[windows] How do I shutdown, restart, or log off Windows via a bat file?

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