It's often the -m switch that causes the trouble. You want to
reboot a remote machine, but accidentally omit the -machine switch and thus
set in motion the shutdown sequence for the wrong computer.
If you make this mistake you have 30 seconds to abort the mission.
You can cancel the Windows shutdown with the -a switch.
If you have any experience of the command line then keystrokes are simple
enough:
-a Is for abort. Naturally it only works during the time-out period. The syntax is deceptively simple:
Shutdown -a
Avoid overthink, you don't need the -m switch or the machine's name.
If the cancel command worked, then Windows Server 2008 will display the
message shown in the screen shot to the right.
shutdown /a (This also works because the command is not case
sensitve and you can use the modern -dash or the old-fashioned /hypen
Note 1: Shutdown's default is the local machine!
Thus introduce the -m switch if your intention is to restart a remote
computer.
Note 2: While your 'victim' is probably a Windows
Server, you can launch the command from Windows 7 or earlier Microsoft
clients.
Courage and Confidence for Newbies
The first time want to practice cancelling a shutdown with -a you are
bound to be a little nervous that it won't work. For this reason I
suggest that those with a cautionary disposition try this on a laptop rather
than a server. Yes shutdown is available on all Windows operating
sytems.
Another aid is Shudown's GUI, I recommend that you try Shutdown -i and
issue the commands from the Windows interface.
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The most frustrating feature of the abort switch is that you have to
execute the command not the machine which issued the command, but on the
machine that is about to stop. Let me explain:
You are logged on at BigServer, you type: shutdown -r -m \\MailServer
But you meant to type: shutdown -r -m SqlServer
You type shutdown -a
This is no good, your own machine has no shutdown command in its pipeline
so ignores the command. The only way would be to rush over to
MailServer and issue the cancel shutdown command on that machine.
You have one faint chance, you could use remote desktop connection but
you will have to be quick, normally you only have 30 seconds before the
command starts taking effect. Conclusion if you are unsure have a
Remote Desktop connection setup before you down experiment with shutdown's
-m switch.
Here is addition information about the optional commands to remotely restart your
Windows Server.
-t is for time. Is 30 seconds too long
or too short a time?
You can adjust with -t: 60 to display the dialog box for one minute.
The maximum time is 600 seconds!
-f is for force. 'Mr Nasty', is coming - ready or not! Shutdown
-r -f as you may have guessed, restarts the machine, and closes any programs
without warning.
-c is for a comment. Would you like to put your stamp on the shutdown?
Let people know who is in charge, who is restarting their server? -c "Guy
is shutting you down"
-d p:4:1 reason. Personally, I would avoid this switch, the syntax
is tricky the numbers obscure, and it does nothing exciting.
That said the idea is sound, it enters a reason for the shutdown in the
event log. If you activate shutdown's help, then you will get a whole
list of major and minor reasons that you could employ with this switch.
For me, this switch is an option, an option that I do not take.
Note 1: The shutdown command line switches work equally well with a
forward slash, for example, /d, /r or /a (instead of -d, -r
or -a)
You could just click on the Start orb and type: 'Shutdown -i'.
Consider making a shortcut to shutdown. The advantage is that you can
include the -i (/i) for interactive switch. The benefit is that
you have a GUI to control your remote server restarts.
Just right-click the desktop, New, Shortcut, type Shutdown -i
Encouraging computers to sleep when not in use is a great idea -
until you are away from your desk and need a file on that remote sleeping machine!
Wake-On-LAN really will save you that long walk to awaken a hibernating
machine; however my reason for encouraging you to download this utility is
just because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'. As Wake-On-LAN (WOL) is free, see
if I am right, and you get a kick from arousing those sleeping machines.
WOL also has business uses for example, wakening machines so that they can have
their patches applied.
/i Display the graphical user interface (GUI). This must be the first
option. /l Log off. This cannot be used with /m or /d options. /s
Shutdown the computer. /r Shutdown and restart the computer. /g
Shutdown and restart the computer. After the system is rebooted, restart any
registered applications. /a Abort a system shutdown. This can only be
used during the time-out period. /p Turn off the local computer with no
time-out or warning. Can be used with /d and /f options. /h Hibernate the
local computer. Can be used with the /f option. /e Document the reason
for an unexpected shutdown of a computer. /m \\computer Specify the
target computer. /t xxx Set the time-out period before shutdown to xxx
seconds. The valid range is 0-315360000 (10 years), with a default of 30.
If the timeout period is greater than 0, the /f parameter is implied. /c
"comment" Comment on the reason for the restart or shutdown. Maximum of 512
characters allowed. /f Force running applications to close without
forewarning users. The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0
is specified for the /t parameter. /d [p|u:]xx:yy Provide the reason for
the restart or shutdown. p indicates that the restart or shutdown is
planned. u indicates that the reason is user defined. If neither p nor u
is specified the restart or shutdown is unplanned. xx is the major
reason number (positive integer less than 256). yy is the minor reason
number (positive integer less than 65536).
As an alternative to the built-in Windows Server shutdown command try
PowerShell. It has a family of cmdlets such as
Stop-Computer and
Restart-Computer. A likely scenario is that you wish to
automate the reboot of a remote server. With a tiny
substitution to the cmdlet's verb you could change the command so that it
simply shuts down the computer.
See more about using
PowerShell's restart-Computer cmdlet.
Despite what anyone tells you, nobody
gets to be an expert with Shutdown without accidentally downing
the local machine instead of the target computer. To recover from this mistake pay close attention to the syntax
of Shutdown's abort switch -a.
It's fun to use the Windows shutdown utility, and one day they
will save you a long walk when you want reboot a remote computer.
My advice is to perfect the -a (abort) switch, that way you won't panic if
you issue a command to shutdown the local computer instead of the network
machine.
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